Palaeoclimate across the Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian tropical palaeolatitudes: A review of climate indicators, their distribution, and relation to palaeophysiographic climate factors

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Abstract

Global-scale compilations of palaeoclimate indicators include records of the temporal and spatial occurrence of coal, laterite, bauxite, Vertisols, calcrete, eolianite, and evaporite at the scale of geological stage. These palaeoclimate indicators provide the primary evidence for palaeoclimate change during the Late Palaeozoic, and have been used to infer a long-term climatic transition from humid to arid conditions on equatorial Pangaea from Late Pennsylvanian through Early Permian time. The cause(s) of Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian climate trends are unknown but must have resulted from climate factors operating on timescales of tectonic change (106–107 yr), such as tectonic drift, assembly of Pangaea, orogenesis, and long-term carbon cycling.

Although higher-resolution, local- to regional-scale palaeoclimate reconstructions for the Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian exist, they generally lack the time control necessary for accurate correlation among sites. Nevertheless, these high-resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions provide details about Permo-Pennsylvanian palaeoclimate that are not perceptible in lower-resolution global datasets. These studies indicate that (1) although the Late Pennsylvanian equatorial latitudes were more humid than the Early Permian tropics, there was also considerable variability in the amount and seasonality of rainfall, and (2) there were several short (≪ 1  3 Ma) excursions toward relatively more humid climate during the long-term Early Permian transition to aridity in western and central equatorial Pangaea. These higher-resolution climate changes were controlled by climate factors which operated on relatively short timescales (104–106 yr) such as continental ice-sheet dynamics, sea-level change and associated changes in land–sea distribution, and variations in palaeoatmospheric PCO2.

Although lithological indicators and geochemical proxies provide the basis for reconstructing past climate, they seldom provide diagnostic evidence to determine which of the possible climate factors were important. To narrow the possible causes of Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian climate change, we review and evaluate both conceptual and numerical models that have been previously used to explain Late Palaeozoic climate change in light of the detailed spatial and temporal proxy records from across near-equatorial Pangaea. Our ability to test these models is currently limited by our inability to make accurate correlations among proxy sites due to uncertain dating. Nonetheless, we suggest that on tectonic timescales continental drift, increasing atmospheric PCO2, and deglaciation could explain much of the low-latitude climate record, while changing atmospheric PCO2 and orbitally-driven glacial–interglacial cycles could account for higher-resolution climate variability on Pangaea.

Introduction

The Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian was an interval of geological and climatological transition. This interval includes early tectonic post-assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea (Ziegler et al., 1979) which resulted in construction of a wide (~ 1000 km) and long (5000–7000 km) east–west oriented equatorial Central Pangaean Mountain (CPM) chain of poorly known elevation (Ziegler et al., 1997), both of which (Pangaean assembly and orogenesis) may have contributed toward reorganization of global atmospheric circulation systems into the so-called megamonsoon (Kutzbach and Gallimore, 1989, Dubiel et al., 1991, Parrish, 1993). This interval is also characterized by build-up and ablation of perhaps the most expansive continental ice sheets of the Phanerozoic (e.g., Frakes et al., 1992, Isbell et al., 2003). These ice sheets apparently waxed and waned, resulting in sea-level oscillation and large-scale changes in the distribution of land and sea (e.g., Heckel, 1977, Heckel, 1986, Heckel, 1990, Ramsbottom, 1979, Busch and Rollins, 1984, Ross and Ross, 1985, Veevers and Powell, 1987, Soreghan, 1994a, Yang, 1996, Rankey, 1997, Olszewski and Patzkowsky, 2003). In addition, geochemical evidence indicates large variations in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 during Pennsylvanian and Early Permian time (Montañez et al., 2007). All of these climate factors were operative within an ~ 40–60 million year interval of northward tectonic drift that might also have affected the regional and temporal record of palaeoclimate indicators in tropical Pangaean basins.

The Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian interval was also a period of tremendous low-latitude environmental change. Palaeoclimate indicators, including records of the temporal and spatial occurrence of coal, laterite, bauxite, Vertisols, calcrete, eolianite, evaporite, and flora, indicate that large regions of near-equatorial Pangaea experienced significant drying over this interval. For example, palaeoclimate indicators of humid tropical climates, such as coal, laterite, and bauxite are common in Pennsylvanian strata, but are virtually non-existent and replaced by indicators of dry climate, such as calcrete and evaporite, in Lower Permian strata of western and central Pangaea (e.g., Mack and James, 1986, Patzkowsy et al., 1991, Kessler et al., 2001, Gibbs et al., 2002, Tabor and Montañez, 2004, Schneider et al., 2006, Tabor et al., in press). The transition from relatively humid to arid climate was rapid in western equatorial Pangaea (Tabor and Montañez, 2004, Montañez et al., 2007, Tabor et al., in press), whereas the transition was protracted over much longer time-scales in central Pangaea (Schneider et al., 2006, Roscher and Schneider, 2006), and on the eastern tropical island blocks palaeoclimate indicators of humidity continued to be deposited through the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian (Ikonnikov, 1984, Gibbs et al., 2002, Rees et al., 2002, Yang et al., 2005).

How, and to what extent, did specific tectonic and global climate factors shape palaeoclimate in low-latitude Pangaea? To address this question, we review palaeoclimate indicators from the latest Pennsylvanian (Serpukhovian–Ghzelian) through Earliest Permian (Asselian–Cisuralian) low latitudes of Pangaea. From these palaeoclimate indicators, we develop a regional characterization of climate evolution at stage level, review detailed intrabasinal palaeoclimate reconstructions across low-latitude Pangaea, and evaluate this history in the context of previously proposed explanations for Late Palaeozoic climate change.

Section snippets

Time frame

This contribution focuses upon evidence for atmospheric circulation and climate dynamics preserved in Upper Pennsylvanian (Serpukhovian–Gzhelian) and Lower Permian (Asselian–Cisuralian) terrestrial rocks (Fig. 1). Plate reconstructions (Fig. 2) and palaeoclimate indicators (Fig. 3) used herein are based on a compilation of palaeomagnetic data and palaeogeographic distributions of sedimentological and palaeontological climate indicators (evaporite, coal, eolianite, etc.; Scotese et al., 1999,

General long term trends

Several different global-scale compilations of climate-sensitive sedimentary lithotypes, mineralogical assemblages, and fossil plant types have been used to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions across Pangaea, and to infer the evolution of palaeoatmospheric circulation, from their spatial and temporal distribution (Nairn and Smithwick, 1976, Parrish et al., 1982, Phillips and Peppers, 1984, Rowley et al., 1985, Ziegler et al., 1987, Ziegler et al., 2003, Scotese and

Factors of tropical climate variation

What factors controlled tropical climate in equatorial Pangaea? To answer this, we can draw upon nearly thirty years of scientific investigation into the climate of Pangaea (e.g., Parrish, 1982, Parrish, 1993, Parrish, 1998, Parrish and Peterson, 1988, Kutzbach and Gallimore, 1989, Witzke, 1990, Ziegler, 1990, Dubiel et al., 1991, Crowley and Baum, 1992, Kutzbach et al., 1993, Crowley et al., 1993, Otto-Bliesner, 1993, Otto-Bliesner, 1996, Otto-Bliesner, 1998, Otto-Bliesner, 2003, Kutzbach, 1994

Summary

Several conclusions may be drawn from our analysis of the temporal and spatial distribution of climate factors, and the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain Pangaean climate evolution:

  • (1)

    Late Pennsylvanian–Early Permian climate evolution, as recorded by lithological indicators, was complex and is unlikely to have a single explanation. Moreover, the stratigraphic record demonstrates climate change at multiple temporal scales that were unlikely to have a single, common cause. In

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by NSF-EAR 0617250, NSF-EAR 0545654, and NSF-EAR 0447381 to Tabor and NSF-EAR-0544760 to Poulsen. Thanks to Lynn Soreghan, Judy Parrish, Steven Driese, Blaine Cecil, and Bette Otto-Bliessner for constructive reviews that significantly improved the quality of this manuscript. The authors would like to thank Isabel P. Montañez, William DiMichele, Crayton J. Yapp, Alfred Ziegler, Ronald Blakey, David Rowley, Judy Parrish, Christopher R. Scotese, Tracy Frank, Chris Fielding,

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