On the periodicity and magnitude of Late Carboniferous glacio-eustatie sea-level changes

Maynard, James R.; Leeder, M. R.

doi:10.1144/gsjgs.149.3.0303

Cited by 118 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…by Heckel, 1994, for magnitude of glacio-eustatic vs. tectonic driven sea-level changes for the American Midcontinent cyclothems, as well as Maynard and Leeder, 1992). Furthermore, no high-frequency cyclic tectonic events have ever been reported (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drowning of algal mounds: records from the Upper Carboniferous Lower Pseudoschwagerina Limestone, Carnic Alps, Austria

Samankassou

1999

Sedimentary Geology

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Anthracoporella algal mounds, up to 22 m thick, occur within the cyclic sequences of the Lower Pseudoschwagerina Limestone (uppermost Carboniferous), Carnic Alps (Austria). Their depositional environment lay between the wave base and the base of the photic zone. The algal mounds are overlain by dark, well-bedded, cherty wackestones and packstones. The cherty limestones contain cephalopods, thick-shelled brachiopods, and sponge spicules and lack Anthracoporella in growth position. They are typical deeper-water sediments, deposited below the photic zone. This sequence records drowning episodes; the shallow-water algal mounds were drowned by relative rise of sea level as sea-bottom production shut down below the photic zone. The sedimentological and paleontological evidence of drowning are supported by geochemical data of two measured sections. The mean sulfur content of the well-oxygenated algal limestones is 0.02% for both sections; the TOC values are 0.17% for the section AI and 0.10% for the section AR. The S contents of the cherty limestones are approximately twice as high with values of 0.48 and 0.05% for the respective sections. TOC values of the cherty limestones are also significantly higher, with 0.30 and 0.51% contents for the respective sections. The cherty limestones document the termination of the mounds and the demise of reef-building algae in each cycle. This interval is therefore termed 'shroud facies'. The rapid sea-level rise reported is a further proof for high-magnitude sea-level fluctuations in intervals of glacio-eustasy. The documented drowning mode is novel through the definable interval of drowning, the repeated events during a short time interval, the full record of pre-, syn-, and post-drowning deposits, and the unequivocal attribution to glacio-eustatic sea-level rise. This mode seems to be characteristic of an icehouse period and clearly differs from the drowning mode in greenhouse periods which is often gradual, lacks an unequivocal cause, and is often preceded by subaerial exposure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drowning of algal mounds: records from the Upper Carboniferous Lower Pseudoschwagerina Limestone, Carnic Alps, Austria

Samankassou

1999

Sedimentary Geology

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“…The average duration of composite sequences is 480 ky with a range of 430 to 600 ky. The average durations fall within the temporal scale of long-(400 ky) and short-term (100 ky) eccentricity (Laskar et al, 1993;, which have been widely recognized in Permo-Carboniferous strata (e.g., Heckel, 1986;Boardman and Heckel, 1989;Maynard and Leeder, 1992;Weedon and Read, 1995;Rasbury et al, 1998;Strasser et al, 2006). Longer-term composite sequences (LTCS) in the U-Pb constrained Moscovian interval have an average duration of 1.6 my (±0.5 my), which is in the range of the long-period modulation of obliquity (∼ 1.2 My) and eccentricity (∼ 2.4 My) (Laskar et al,1993;.…”

Section: Duration Of Sequences and Composite Sequencesmentioning

confidence: 92%

Sequence stratigraphy and onlap history of the Donets Basin, Ukraine: Insight into Carboniferous icehouse dynamics

Eros

Montañez

Osleger

et al. 2012

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

151

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The degree to which Permo-Carboniferous cyclothemic successions archive evidence for longterm variations in ice volume during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age is insufficiently resolved. Here we develop the sequence stratigraphy and onlap-offlap history for a 33-my interval of the Carboniferous using the U-Pb calibrated succession of the Donets Basin, Ukraine, in order to assess the relationship between sea-level, high-latitude changes in glacial extent, and climate. Integrated subsurface and outcrop data permit meter-scale correlation of 242 biostratigraphically constrained limestones and coals, and in turn individual cyclothems, across ~250 km of the Donets Basin. Rapid uniform subsidence and basinwide continuity of marker beds indicate Pennsylvanian deposition under relatively stable tectonic conditions. Three scales of sequences (avg. durations of ~140 ky, ~480 ky and 1.6 my) are recognized on the basis of stratigraphic stacking patterns and basinwide architecture of marine to terrestrial facies assemblages.The hierarchy of sequences and the geographic and stratigraphic positions of shifts in base-level sensitive facies across the Donets ramp permit the construction of an onlap-offlap history at a sub-400 ky scale. Major sea-level lowstands occur across the mid-Carboniferous boundary and during the early Moscovian. These lowstands coincide with glacial maxima inferred from highlatitude glacigenic deposits. The middle to late Pennsylvanian is characterized by a stepwise onlap, culminating in an earliest Gzhelian highstand, suggesting contraction of Carboniferous ice sheets prior to the initiation of Early Permian glaciation.The stratigraphic position of climate sensitive facies within individual Donets cyclothems indicates a turnover from seasonal sub-humid or semi-arid climate to everwet conditions during the late lowstand and maximum ice sheet accumulation. Comparison of the stratigraphic and aerial distribution of coals and evaporites in the Donets Basin with the onlap-offlap history further indicates everwet conditions during lowstands and inferred glacial maxima and drier climate during onlap and inferred ice sheet contraction at the intermediate (~0.8 to 1.6 my) and long (10 6 yr) time-scales. Taken together, the relationship between inferred climate and glacioeustasy suggests a likely teleconnection between high-latitude ice sheet behavior and low-latitude atmospheric dynamics.

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“…Notwithstanding the dominance of orbital forcing, there will locally have been tectonic and sedimentary controls on deposition too. The Milankovitch rhythms for the Carboniferous are thought to have been 21 and 17 kyr for precession (now 23 and 19 kyr), 34 kyr for obliquity (now 42 kyr) (Maynard and Leeder, 1992), and 112 kyr and 413 kyr for short and long eccentricity (as now, no change through the Phanerozoic).…”

Section: Cycle Stratigraphy and Duration Of Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Walkden (1987) suggested 260/360 kyr for Asbian cycles and 500 kyr for Brigantian cycles in Derbyshire. Maynard and Leeder (1992) calculated 120 kyr for Namurian/Westphalian cyclothems in northern England. Ross and Ross (1987) gave a figure of 390 kyr for Desmoinesian cycles in the southwest US, and Heckel (1986) 235/400 kyr for Mid-Pennsylvanian, mid-USA, cycles.…”

Section: Cycle Stratigraphy and Duration Of Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are beds in shelf carbonates millennial-scale cycles? An example from the mid-Carboniferous of northern England…

Tucker

Gallagher

Leng

2009

Sedimentary Geology

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The mid-Carboniferous strata of northern England are characterised by mixed clastic-carbonate cycles (Yoredale cyclothems), attributed here to the short eccentricity Milankovitch rhythm. In a typical cycle, transgressive normal-marine shelf carbonates are succeeded by marine shales, then highstand prodelta mudstones and delta front-delta top sandstones with local coals. A detailed study of one cycle, the Great Limestone Cyclothem of the northern Pennines (Alston Block), reveals that within the transgressive carbonates, the beds, averaging 75 cm in thickness and defined by mm-shale partings or cm-mudrock layers, form two thinning-upward to thickening-upward bed-sets. Individual beds and the bed-sets can be correlated across the region. Oxygen isotope and strontium trace element data also reveal patterns of increasing and decreasing values through the limestone, which broadly correspond to the bed-thickness cycles.The beds are interpreted as millennial-scale cycles, the result of highfrequency, arid-humid climatic fluctuations. The bed-sets are interpreted as the response to a longer term arid-humid climate and sea-level cycle, driven by the precession rhythm.It is postulated that millennial-scale climatic changes, which are a well-known feature of the Quaternary and are here inferred for the Carboniferous, were responsible for the deposition of the beds that are a characteristic feature of many marine sedimentary successions in the geological record. The most likely over-riding control is fluctuations in solar output.

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On the periodicity and magnitude of Late Carboniferous glacio-eustatie sea-level changes

Cited by 118 publications

References 32 publications

Drowning of algal mounds: records from the Upper Carboniferous Lower Pseudoschwagerina Limestone, Carnic Alps, Austria

Drowning of algal mounds: records from the Upper Carboniferous Lower Pseudoschwagerina Limestone, Carnic Alps, Austria

Sequence stratigraphy and onlap history of the Donets Basin, Ukraine: Insight into Carboniferous icehouse dynamics

Are beds in shelf carbonates millennial-scale cycles? An example from the mid-Carboniferous of northern England…

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