1. Late Paleozoic Earth History
Chapter 11
Late Paleozoic Earth History

2. Appalachians are built North America is formed
Catskill Delta in NY is deposited
Coal formation is widespread
Limited transgression; reefs and basins
Supercontinent forms
Climate change occurs

3. Gondwana Continental Glaciers
Gondwana continued moving over the South Pole
Major glacial episodes: Late Mississippian to Early Permian
Continental glaciers profoundly affected the world's biota
and global sea level changes

4. Continental glaciers or ice Sheets are always over land masses!

5. Continental Collisions
Collisions between continents
formation of supercontinent Pangaea by the end of the Permian,
mountain building
influenced oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns
By the end of the Paleozoic,
widespread arid and semiarid conditions had prevailed over much of Pangaea

6. The Devonian Period During the Silurian (early paleozoic),
Laurentia and Baltica collided
larger continent of Laurasia
Northern Iapetus Ocean closed: Caledonian orogeny
During the Devonian,
Southern Iapetus Ocean narrowed
between Laurasia and Gondwana,
Acadian orogeny

7. Paleogeography of the World
For the Late Devonian Period

8. Paleogeography of the World
For the Early Carboniferous Period

9. Paleogeography of the World
For the Late Carboniferous Period

10. Paleogeography of the World
For the Late Permian Period

11. Evidence of Acadian Orogeny: “Old Red Sandstone” Reddish Fluvial Sediments formed during the Devonian Age
The erosion of the resulting highlands from the Acadian Orogeny
provided Old Red Sandstone
covered large areas of northern Europe
and eastern North America
Evidence: the Catskill Delta, Scotland
and others

12. Catskill Delta red sandstone beds are exposed in NY/PA

13. Old Red Sandstone in Europe
Scotland

14. Catskill Delta Clastic Wedge

15. Devonian Rocks of New York
The Devonian rocks of New York are among the best studied on the continent
A cross section of the Devonian strata
clearly reflects an eastern source for the Catskill facies
from the Acadian Highlands
These clastic rocks can be traced
from eastern Pennsylvania,
where the coarse clastics are approximately 3 km thick,
to Ohio,
where the deltaic facies are only about 100 m thick
and consist of cratonic shales and carbonates

16. Avalonia: microcontinent on the move
composed of
coastal parts of New England,
southern New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia,
eastern Newfoundland,
southeastern Ireland,
Wales, England,
--Belgium and Northern France **later rifting took this land to present locations

17. Acadian Orogeny

18. Acadian Orogeny

19. Acadian Orogeny

20. 2800 feet of sediment on eastern margin
Marcellus Shale Devonian marine facies
Natural gas reserves

21. Before Pangaea…. Uniform global climate throughout the world, reefs,
evaporites,
and red beds,
throughout the world,

22. The Carboniferous Period: Mississippian & Pennsylvanian
The advance and retreat of Gondwana’s polar glaciers
produced global changes in sea level
and affected sedimentation pattern on the cratons
As Gondwana moved northward
it first collided with Laurasia
during the Early Carboniferous
and continued suturing with it during the rest of the Carboniferous

23. Closing of the Iapetus Ocean
The Taconic, Caledonian, and Acadian orogenies
were all part of the same Paleozoic orogenic event
closing of the Iapetus Ocean
Laurentia and Baltica became sutured as Laurasia

24. Paleogeography of the World
For the Early Carboniferous Period

25. Paleogeography of the World
For the Late Carboniferous Period

26. Gondwana/Laurasia Collision
Evidence: Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma
Late Carboniferous and Early Permian
By the end of the Carboniferous,
the various continental landmasses were fairly close together
as Pangaea began taking shape

27. Paleogeography of the World
For the Late Permian Period

28. Carboniferous Coal Basins
The Carboniferous coal basins of
eastern North America,
western Europe,
all lay in the equatorial zone,
where rainfall was high and temperatures were consistently warm
The absence of strong seasonal growth rings
in fossil plants from these coal basins
is indicative of such a climate

30. What Are Cyclothems?
A cyclical pattern of alternating marine and nonmarine strata
Characteristic of Pennsylvanian rocks
usually in areas of low relief

31. U.S. Coal Deposits
The age of the coals in the midwestern states and the
Appalachian region are mostly Pennsyl-vanian
whereas those in the west are mostly Cretaceous and Cenozoic

32. Cyclothem
Columnar section of a complete cyclothem

33. Pennsylvanian Coal Bed
Pennsylvanian coal bed, West Virginia
part of a cyclothem

34. Coal-Forming Swamp
Reconstruction of the environment of a Pennsylvanian coal-forming swamp

35. The Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, is a modern coal-forming environment,
similar to those occurring during the Pennsylvanian Period

36. Pennsylvanian Period
Paleogeography of North America during the Pennsylvanian Period

37. Modern coal forming environments
the Mississippi delta,
the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia
the Florida Everglades,
and the Dutch lowlands
similar to those that existed during the Pennsylvanian Period

38. The Permian

39. Permian Period
Paleogeography of North America during the Permian Period

40. Restricted Absaroka Sea
west Texas and southern New Mexico,
lagoonal environments,
reef environments,
and open-shelf environments
Permian Basins form

41. Permian Reefs and Basins

42. Capitan Limestone Reef Reconstruction
Reconstruction Middle Permian Capitan Limestone reef environment
brachiopods, corals, bryozoans and large glass sponges

43. Pangaea Surrounded An enormous single ocean,
Panthalassa,
surrounded Pangaea and
spanned Earth from pole to pole
arid and semiarid conditions were widespread over Pangaea
The mountain ranges produced by
the Alleghenian, and Ouachita orogenies
created rain shadows

44. The stage is set for Earth’s greatest mass extinction