The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) 
monsoonal climate of the British Isles: evidence from growth 
rings in fossil woods

Falcon-Lang, Howard J.

doi:10.1017/s0016756899002307

Cited by 55 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Climate was subhumid to humid in this subequatorial region, and monsoonal conditions were established since the early Carboniferous (Falcon- Lang, 1999), their intensity gradually increasing as major landmasses merged into a configuration that enhanced seasonal patterns of atmospheric *E-mail: d.ventra@uu.nl on July 31, 2015 geology.gsapubs.org Downloaded from circulation, owing to the contrast in thermal inertia between the Pangean protocontinent and surrounding oceans (Parrish, 1993). The concurrent evolution of late Paleozoic glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere forced global climate to vary at orbital time scales (10 4-5 yr), in phase with glacioeustasy.…”

Section: Geological and Paleoclimatic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supercritical-flow structures on a Late Carboniferous delta front: Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic significance

Ventra

Cartigny

Bijkerk

et al. 2015

Geology

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Deposits of fluvial systems in highly seasonal tropical climates possess unique architectural and facies characters owing to a flood-prone regime alternating with lengthy periods of ineffective discharge. Distally linked deltaic successions should also feature distinctive attributes, with great potential to preserve the stratigraphic evidence of exceptional discharge events. We describe Late Carboniferous deltafront, valley-confined sandstones from the Pennine Basin (UK), originally deposited at paleoequatorial latitudes during final assembly of the Pangean megacontinent and characterized by giant sedimentary structures with repetitively sigmoidal geometry. Facies traits indicate geologically instantaneous deposition of a large sediment volume from a density current at sustained supercritical-flow conditions, leading to aggradation of cyclic steps, recently identified bedforms developing in high-energy flows and of which this is the first complete outcrop example. The lack of unconformable erosional surfaces and absence of different associated facies point to a single aggradational event during which the structures attained dimensions comparable to those indicated by seismic data sets from which they are remotely detected on modern seafloors. Cyclic-step formation in a deltaic setting suggests that Pangean megamonsoons could have triggered hydrologic events capable of imprinting sedimentologic signatures on shallow-marine deposits.

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Section: Geological and Paleoclimatic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supercritical-flow structures on a Late Carboniferous delta front: Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic significance

Ventra

Cartigny

Bijkerk

et al. 2015

Geology

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“…Although the oldest definite evidence for upland floras is documented in the Pennsylvanian (Falcon-Lang and Bashforth 2004 and references therein), there is good anatomical and depositional evidence that some Mississippian seed plants could grow in volcanic settings and in environments with periodic water stress (e.g., Galtier and Scott 1994;Scott and Galtier 1996;Galtier et al 1998;Falcon-Lang 1999;Decombeix et al 2011b;Henderson and Falcon-Lang 2011). Their vegetative body had to adapt to dryer, more irregular conditions, and this is especially true in long-lived plants that take several years to reach reproductive maturity (Petit and Hampe 2006).…”

Section: Secondary Phloem Anatomy and The Mississippian Diversificatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary Phloem in Early Carboniferous Seed Plants: Anatomical Diversity and Evolutionary Implications

Decombeix

Galtier

Meyer‐Berthaud

2014

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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Editor: Michael T. DunnPremise of research. Secondary phloem produced by a bifacial vascular cambium is the distinctive feature of lignophytes, the group that comprises the seed plants and the progymnosperms. Because secondary phloem is rarely well preserved in the fossil record, our knowledge of the evolution of this tissue remains incomplete.Methodology. We illustrate the secondary phloem anatomy of nine seed plants of Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) age that represent to date the oldest representatives of the group in which this tissue is well preserved. In addition, we review the information available on the secondary phloem anatomy of Devonian progymnosperms and Late Carboniferous-Permian seed plants.Pivotal results. Secondary phloem anatomy was already diversified in the Mississippian seed plants, in terms of cell composition and spatial organization of the different cell types. We propose four models of secondary phloem anatomy and organization in lignophytes of Devonian-Carboniferous age.Conclusions. The diversity of secondary phloem anatomy in Mississippian seed plants parallels what is observed for other parts of their vascular system; it is most likely linked to the Mississippian diversification of seed plant growth architectures and habitats. The accumulated fossil evidence also demonstrates that several characters that have been considered as advanced on the basis of the study of extant gymnosperms (e.g., the presence of fibers in the functional phloem and the arrangement in alternate tangential layers of a same cell type) were actually already present in some early representatives of the lignophytes.

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“…Van der Zwan et al ., ) with seasonality (e.g. Falcon‐Lang, ) or an arid/semi‐arid climate (e.g. Wright, , ; Scott, ; Bateman & Scott, ; Andrews & Nabi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Mississippian evaporites of coastal tropical wetlands

et al. 2018

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Extensive evaporites in Lower Mississippian successions from palaeoequatorial regions are commonly used as evidence for an arid to semi‐arid palaeoclimate. However, in this article, detailed studies of evaporites and their context refute this interpretation. Detailed sedimentological and petrographical analysis of the Lower Mississippian of northern Britain, is combined with archived log data from more than 40 boreholes across southern Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, and published literature from Canada. Two key cores from the Tweed Basin and the northern margin of the Northumberland – Solway Basin contain 178 evaporite intervals and reveal twelve distinct forms of gypsum and anhydrite across seven facies that are associated with planar laminated siltstone and intercalated thin beds of ferroan dolostone. Nodular gypsum and anhydrite, typically in intervals <1 to 2 m thick, are integral components of the succession. Nodular evaporite occurs within about 1 m of a palaeosurface, but most evaporite deposits represent ephemeral brine pans to semi‐permanent hypersaline lakes or salinas on a floodplain that was subjected periodically to storm surges introducing marine waters. Formation of evaporites under a strongly seasonal climate in a coastal wetland is supported by palaeosol types and geochemical proxies, and from palaeobotanical evidence published previously. Although 65% of modern equatorial areas experience a strongly seasonal climatic regime, salinas and sabkhas are a minor component today in comparison with the evidence from these Lower Mississippian successions. This implies that the earliest terrestrial environments were complex and dynamic, providing a diverse range of habitats in which the early tetrapods became terrestrialized and represent a setting that is rarely preserved in the geological record.

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The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) monsoonal climate of the British Isles: evidence from growth rings in fossil woods

Cited by 55 publications

References 47 publications

Supercritical-flow structures on a Late Carboniferous delta front: Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic significance

Supercritical-flow structures on a Late Carboniferous delta front: Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic significance

Secondary Phloem in Early Carboniferous Seed Plants: Anatomical Diversity and Evolutionary Implications

Early Mississippian evaporites of coastal tropical wetlands

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