Exam 4 Flashcards
What strata was left of the Devonian and the beginning of the Mississippian?
The remnants of the Acadian and Antler Mountains
Mississippian Strata of North America
- Transition from shale to limestones
- The Great Mississippian Line Bank
Great Mississippian Line Bank
- Shallow area on the sea floor deposited abundant limestones
- Analogous to the Great Bahama Bank
Great Bahama Bank
- Dunes with wave ripples composed of individual calcite pebbles called Ooids
- An Ooid nucleus forms when part of a marine skeleton is encased by calcium carbonate in warm, agitated waters
- Abundance of echinoderm fragments like crinoids
Mississippian Northeast US Strata
- Acadian mountains eroding to the west in the Catskill delta
–> New England and Newfoundland have exposed detrital, clastic sediments (Sandstones, Shales, Volcanics)
–> West Virginia and Pennsylvania (Pocono Group) have mountains with exposures of Mississippian sandstones and shales
Mississippian Continental Interior Strata
- Montana and Wyoming (Madison Limestone) have Devonian limestone exposure
- Colorado and Arizona (Red Wall Limestone) have exposures in the Grand Canyon
- Missouri (Burlington Limestone) has lots of cave systems
- Kentucky (St. Genevieve Limestone) has the Mammoth Cave national park
Demise of the Kaskaskia Cratonic Sequence
- A Karst is a type of landscape topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone
- Karstification - processes that result in karst
–> Cave systems form from the dissolution of limestone - At the end of the Mississippian, limestone is dissolved to form vast cave systems
Mississippian Paleoclimate
Presence of abundant limestones indicates a tropical climate with warm, fresh, shallow water with normal marine chemistry
New Mississippian Life (Age of the Crinoids)
1) Reptiles
–> Weslothiana - Reptiolmorph amphibian
2) Blastoids (Pentremites) that were similar to Crinoids but have a distinctive head with feeding arms
3) Fenestrate Bryozoans (Archimedes) - Index fossil
–> Fan shaped colonial networks with a screw like shape in the center and adjacent fan frawns
4) Productid Brachiopods
–> Two shells and spines on the lower shell
5) Foraminiferas (Single-celled Protista) were sand sized
Mississippian Plant life
Similar to the Devonian
Mississippian Amphibians
Diversified
Pennsylvanian Orogenies
- Alercynian-Alleghenian Oregeny (Northeastern US)
- Ouachita Orogeny (Southern US)
a. Ouachita Mountains
b. Marathon Mountains
Pennsylvanian Cratonic Interior
Formed as a result of compression from orogenies
- Oklahoma Uplift
- Kanibab-Defiance-Zuni Uplifts
- Uncompahgre and Front Range Uplifts
Laurasia
Late Paleozoic northern hemisphere continent comprised of NA, Greenland, Europe, and Asia
Gondwanaland
Late Paleozoic southern hemisphere continent comprised of SA, Africa, India, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, and SE Asia
Pennsylvanian Cratonic Sequence
Absaroska
Cyclothems
Unique Sedimentary deposit usually following the formula:
Marine Shales
Coals ^
Non marine shales |
Fluvial Sandstones
Unconformity
Gondwana’s Connection to sea levels
Ice sheet causes fluctuating sea levels as climate changes
Eastern Cyclothems
Follow the pattern with well-developed coals
Central Cyclothems
Have no coals
Western Cyclothems
Form alternations of aeolian sandstone and limestones because of the drier climate
Coal Swamps
Accumulation of plant material with wetlands produces coals
Pennsylvanian Coal Swamp Analogs
- Dismal Swamp in NC
- Okefenokee swamp of SE Georgia
- Swamp of Southern Louisiana
Coal Swamp Life
- Scale Trees (Lycopsids)
- Ferns (tree ferns and ground ferns)
- Amphibians
- Reptiles
- Insects
- Air-breathing mollusks (snails)
Pennsylvanian Climate
- Warm and humid
- Reptiles and amphibians present
- Trees with large cells indicate rapid growth
- Trees with no growth rings indicate aseasonality
Pennsylvanian Areas of Commercial Coals
- Central portion of Appalachian region
- Novasocia, Newbrunswick, PEI
Pennsylvanian Evaporite Deposits and Reefs
- Associated with cyclothems and SE US
- Paradox Basin - Thick successions of Gypsum, Halite, and Potash
Phyloid Algae - dominant reef building creature of the Pennsylvanian
Pennsylvanian New Life
1) Reptiles (Amniotic Eggs)
a. Hylonomus (Captorhinomorphs)
b. Synapsids (Mammal-like reptiles)
2) Land snails (air-breathing)
3) Fusilinids - Index fossils (Single-celled protozoan)
Pennsylvanian Environmental Considerations
- Orogenies caused sediment to pollute water, decreasing filter feeders
- Mollusks and prodkuctid brachiopods become more common
Pennsylvanian New Life (Age of the Cockroaches)
- Insects
- Amphibians (Labyrinthodonts)
- Vegetation – abundance of ferns
–> Lycopsids
a. Lepidodendran - stigmaria root shape
b. Sigillaria
–> Synopsids
a. Calamites
When did Pangea fully assemble?
The Permian era
Permian Paleoclimate
- Sea way closed between Laurasia and Gondwanaland
- Winds blowing from east to west
- Dry climate
Guadalupe Mountains
- During the Permian in west Texas and eastern New Mexico
- Permian Basin
- Basins, Reefs, Platforms
- Terminal Evaporites
Permian Basin
- Eastern shelf
- Midland basin
- Northwest shelf
- Central basin platform
- Delaware basin
- Diablo platform
- Marfa basin
Permian Basin Depositional Environment
- Basins
- Reefs (Mostly Catalina Sponges and Algae)
- Platform interior (Pisoids)
1) Shelf Crest
2) Lagoon
Pisoids
Super Ooids
Permian Terminal Evaporites
Alternation between Calcite and Gypsum
Permian Western U.S.
- Ancestral Rocky Mountains
- Western Edge of the craton
Permian Ancestral Rocky Mountains
- White-rimmed sandstone
- Aeolian dunes
Permain Western Edge
- Phosphorites deposited where the craton meets the seaway
- Trade winds cause upwelling of nutrient-rich seawater causing lots of life
- Phosphoria formation
Phosphorites
Original organic sediment from the tissue of organic matter
Phosphoria Formation
Black, muddy sediment
Gondwana Rock Succession
Used to prove Pangea and continental drift
1) Basaltic Tillites
a) Striated surfaces
b) Ice-rafted debris
2) Overlying coals
3) Non-marine sediments
4) Basalt flow cap
Unique attributes of Gondwanaland in the Permian
- Gondwana Rock Succession
- Glossopteris Flora
- Glossopteris Fauna