THE LATE PALEOZOIC THE CARBONIFEROUS 360-286 MY W.D. Conybeare & W. Phillips 1822 MISSISSIPPIAN>> Mississippi River Valley PENNSYLVANIAN>> Pennsylvania T.C. Chamberlain & R.D. Salisbury 1906 THE PERMIAN 286-248 MY PERM>> Central Russia Roderick Murchison 1841

INTRODUCTION Mississippian- 40 MY: Pennsylvanian- 34 MY Permian- 38 MY Duration Suturing of Pangea Alleghenian and Hercynian Orogenies Western terrane accretions in North America Formation of the Ural Mountains

INTRODUCTION Tropical Climates around the Tethys Ocean High stands of sea level (Mississippian epicontinental seas) Tropical swamps during the Pennsylvanian (coal measures) Land plant diversity, insects evolved, reptiles evolved Permian redbeds (tropical desert climate) Glaciations in Gondwana

Paleogeography

Paleogeography

PALEOGEOGRAPHY Opening of the Tethys Ocean Kazakhstan closed on Baltica Continuation of Antler Orogeny Other terranes collided with Canada Beginning of Hercynian Orogeny in southern Europe Final collision of Gondwana to Laurentia in Pennsylvanian Alleghenian (E US) and Ouachita Orogenies (S US & S. AM) S. Am collided with TX forming ancestral Rockies Well defined Tethys Ocean in the Permian

PALEOGEOGRAPHY Pangea formed a large U-shaped super-continent stretching from pole to pole Tethys Ocean formed an equatorial reentrant basin on the east The Panthallassic Ocean covered the rest of the globe

PALEOGEOGRAPHY

Paleogeography Pangea almost complete by the Permian except for a few microcontinents that assembled in the Triassic and Jurassic Late Paleozoic most widespread period of collisional mountain building The major orogeny of the Permian was the Uralian Orogeny>> Ural Mountains The final formation of the Appalachians

TECTONIC EVENTS The Hercynian Orogeny The North American Cordillera Southern Europe-Baltica 6000km long, lasted 30my, intense metamorphism, volcanism and plutonism The North American Cordillera Continuation of Antler Orogeny Ellesmere Orogeny (Canada and Alaska) The Alleghenian and Ouachita Orogenies Final phase of Appalachians- Thrust sheets Ancestral Rockies uplifted The Uralian Orogeny

Location of the Principal Highland Areas of the SW US During the Pennsylvanian

Orogenic Development Of the Eastern US

The Appalachians Valley and Ridge Blue Ridge Province Inner Piedmont folded & faulted sedimentary rks Blue Ridge Province metamorphosed Precambrian and Paleozoic Rks Inner Piedmont high grade metamorphic rks intruded by granites Charlotte & Carolina Slate Belt metamorphosed & folded late Proterozoic & Cambrian sediments and volcanics

Physiographic Provinces of the Appalachian Region

Late Paleozoic Continental Collisions

Highland Areas Associated with the Antler Orogeny of California- Nevada Collision of Antler arc with North American craton during the Mississippian creating the Roberts Mountains

An interpretation of conditions in the Cordilleran orogenic belt in Early Mississippian time, shortly after the Antler orogeny.

Craton remained intact while collisions occurred on all sides NEOPROTEROZOIC TO CENOZOIC TRANSGRESSIONS AND REGRESSIONS OBSERVED ON THE CRATON Variable sea level represented sequences of sediments bounded by unconformities on all of the cratons - Major unconformity due to regression Craton remained intact while collisions occurred on all sides Sea levels remained high during the Permo-Carboniferous and especially during the Mississippian Sea level occilations on the order of 200m and 1600km occurred 2 to 3 times every million year

CYCLOTHEMS Cratonic sediments dominated by cycles Rock types repeat in a cyclic manner Rock units of a meter or so can be traced for 100s of kilometers Coal Measures- 10 to 20 m sections of 10 rock units showing a regression/transgression separated by a coal seam (typical, mid continent)

CYCLOTHEMS 150-200m changes in sea level Represented in Illinois by 60 cyclothems Representing 20 to 25 my Representing a 300,000 year cycle Changes in global sea level caused by waxing and waning of Gondwana glaciations

Coal Bearing Cyclothem: Idealized Sequence of 10 Layers Illinois Cyclothem

750km of reefs {sponges, algae, brachiopods and bryozoans} The Permian Midland and Delaware Basins of West Texas 750km of reefs {sponges, algae, brachiopods and bryozoans} Deep marine basins 400-1000m below sea level Arid conditions represented by red beds and evaporites

Permian of West Texas Lagoonal sediments and evaporites Reef front- Phylloid Algae, sponge frame work Black carbonate mud deep water sedimentation with some reef ruble

Economic Deposits Coal- Rapid accumulations of partially decayed vascular plant tissue in anoxic conditions: peat>lignite>bituminous Pennsylvanian: Appalachian and Illinois Basin Oil & Gas Permian: West Texas & North Sea

Coal Seams in fluvial cross-bedded Mississippian Sandstones

Formation of Oil and Gas Most Oil formed in marine environments Organic rich sediments are deposited fast and buried before decomposition These sediments are mainly younger than 500 Million Years Organic material converted to oil and natural gas (hydrocarbons, e.g. CH4) upon burial, by geothermal heat (150- 200F) Oil and gas migrate from source rock to permeable rock If trapped oil and gas can be recovered

Formation of Oil and Gas Decay of algae and bacteria Burial Cooking (temperature + pressure) Formation of Hydrocarbon Favorable Preservation Conditions High organic production (over 10%) Anaerobic depositional systems Moderate to low rate of sedimentation

Hydrocarbon Needs Source Rock Reservoir Rock Trapping Mechanism Timing

Economic Deposits Sodium & Potassium salts Phosphates (Fertilizers) Phosphoria Fm. Metal ores (tin, copper, zinc, lead, silver, gold, platinum) Appalachian Orogeny

Late-Paleozoic Climates Coal formation in low and high latitudes W. Europe and E. North America tropical climates cool moist climates in Siberia, China and Australia

Late-Paleozoic Climates Strong zonation in climates Glacial climates in Gondwana Tillites and dropstones Africa, S. America and India Hot arid climates in low latitudes Redbeds and evaporites in central and western North America

Paleoclimatic Indicators Red- Coal Blue-Tillites Green- Evaporites

LATE PALEOZOIC LIFE Land Plants Radiation of the Insects Radiation of the Amphibians The Origin of Reptiles Mammal-like Reptiles Pelycosaurs and Therapsids

Marine Environment Radiation of brachiopods, ammonoids, bryozoans, crinoids, forams and calcareous algae after Devonian extinction Mississippian “Age of Crinoids” Phylloid Algal mounds of the Pennsylvanian Sponge-Bryozoan reefs Fusulinid foraminifera of the Pennsylvanian and Permian

Life of the Mississippian Crinoids

Radiation of the Insects Co-evolution of plants, insects and amphibians Number of families appear in the Early Pennsylvanian Wingless insects (hexapods) Winged insects Fixed and folding wings

Evolution of Amphibians 10’s of million of years of evolutionary history between crossopterygian fishes and true amphibians

Reptilian evolution from amphibian ancestor took 22 my First reptile in Late Mississippian 4 major groups of reptiles Anapsida Synapsida Diapsida Euryapsida

Reptilian Amniote Egg

Anapsids no opening (Turtles) Synapsids and Euryapsids one opening; low/ high (therapsids- ancestors to mammals/ ich- thyosaurs Diapsids two openings (lizards, snakes, dinosaurs)

Pelycosaur Dimetrodon

Mammal-Like Reptiles- Cynognathus (carnivorous) Kannemeyeria (plant eating therapsid reptile) Mammals acquired most characteristics (50%) in the last 8 my of Permian

The Bear Gulch and Mazon Creek Faunas Soft part preservation Bear Gulch: Mississippian finely laminated limestone deposits of Montana preserving fish fossils Mazon Creek: Pennsylvanian deltaic storm deposit of Illinois containing concretions with fossil plants and soft bodied marine fossils

Mass Extinctions

Permian Mass Extinction 90% of marine species became extinct 54% of the families Final 10 my of Permian

Permian Mass Extinction Fauna & Flora that became extinct All Paleozoic Corals, all Fusilinids, all Trilobites, Eurypterids and Blastoids and most sea urchins, brachiopods, crinoids, bryozoans; Glossopteris flora and many insects Causes Glaciations (drop in sea level), reduction in area of shallow seas changes in climate due to Siberian flood basalts (CO3), drop in oxygen from 33% to 14%