http://research.eas.ualberta.ca/catuneanu/files/Papers_PDF%20files/2005_Catuneanu%20el%20al_Karoo_JAES.pdf

The Karoo basins of south-central Africa

Only the GSSPs for the Bashkirian (base of the Pennsylvanian), Visean and Tournaisian (base of the Mississippian) have been formalized, although the latter now has complications.

The Carboniferous Period

The climatic influences on vegetation in the present world can serve as an excellent model for the Permian, there being approximately the same level of floral differentiation and the same relatively cold polar regions. Accordingly, a system of present day climatically defined biomes, developed by Walter, is adapted herein for palaeophytogeographic purposes. There are ten biomes altogether which range from the tropical 9everwet9 (biome 1) to the polar 9glacial9 (biome 10). Biome 1 is represented by the tropical rainforests of the Cathaysian province sensu stricto which was populated by the arborescent lycopods and sphenophytes, and the Gigantopterids which are interpreted as lianas (vines). This is flanked by the lower diversity 9summerwet9 biome 2, the Atlantic Province, a zone which today is characterized by savanna vegetation, and in the Permian was represented by the pteridosperm Callipteris and the primitive conifers. Biome 3 was effectively 9abiotic9 and is expressed geologically by evaporite belts. The 9winterwet9 or Mediterranean climate of today (biome 4) was not well developed in the Permian, or perhaps just not well preserved, but I attribute some low diversity floras of Kazakhstan to this biome. Biome 5, the 9warm temperate9 biome is well developed in both hemispheres, and, like biome 1, is characterized by high diversity floras and abundant swamp deposits. Not surprisingly, the biome 5 floras have been mistaken for biome 1 with which they are transitional in the modern world and with which they share similar climatic conditions. In the Permian Angaran Realm, the Pechora Province represents this biome, while the Austroafroamerican Province is the Gondwanan equivalent. Often, biome 5 floras have been simply termed 9mixed9. Proceeding poleward across the 9hard frost line9, the cool temperate floras of biome 6 were populated by diverse herbaceous sphenophytes and deciduous trees (the cordaitids of Angara and the similarly diverse glossopterids of Gondwana). Areas in the temperate zone that were remote from moisture sources are assigned to biome 7 and are only known in the southern hemisphere by some aeolian deposits in Argentina. The 9cold temperate9 biome 8 is a low diversity equivalent of biome 6, and has been given the name Gangamopteris Flora in the southern hemisphere. The 9tundra9 environment, biome 9, and the truly glacial deposits, biome 10, are known only from the southern hemisphere.

Phytogeographic patterns and continental configurations during the Permian Period

SUMMARY Some general principles about sedimentation resulting from major eustatic cycles in the Dinantian are applied to a reinterpretation of north of England Namurian successions in terms of major cycles of transgression and regression. Significant faunal renewals occur immediately subsequent to the development of more than usual regressive features. Eleven major cycles are distinguished in the Namurian of Britain. Such cycles are unconformity-bounded on shelf or ‘block’ areas (where the basal faunas of each major cycle are missing) and the term mesothem is recommended for them. A brief survey suggests that these cycles are widely applicable in the northern hemisphere and are of eustatic origin. Their significance in terms of a proposed new generally-applicable stratigraphical boundary in the middle of the Namurian is discussed.

Major cycles of transgression and regression (mesothems) in the namurian

The late Paleozoic earth experienced alternation between glacial and non-glacial climates at multiple temporal scales, accompanied by atmospheric CO2 fluctuations and global warming intervals, often attended by significant vegetational changes in equatorial latitudes of Pangaea. We assess the nature of climate-vegetation interaction during two time intervals: middle-late Pennsylvanian transition and Pennsylvanian-Permian transition, each marked by tropical warming and drying. In case study 1, there is a catastrophic intra-biomic reorganization of dominance and diversity in wetland, evergreen vegetation growing under humid climates. This represents a threshold-type change, possibly a regime shift to an alternative stable state. Case study 2 is an inter-biome dominance change in western and central Pangaea from humid wetland and seasonally dry to semi-arid vegetation. Shifts between these vegetation types had been occurring in Euramerican portions of the equatorial region throughout the late middle and late Pennsylvanian, the drier vegetation reaching persistent dominance by Early Permian. The oscillatory transition between humid and seasonally dry vegetation appears to demonstrate a threshold-like behavior but probably not repeated transitions between alternative stable states. Rather, changes in dominance in lowland equatorial regions were driven by long-term, repetitive climatic oscillations, occurring with increasing intensity, within overall shift to seasonal dryness through time. In neither case study are there clear biotic or abiotic warning signs of looming changes in vegetational composition or geographic distribution, nor is it clear that there are specific, absolute values or rates of environmental change in temperature, rainfall distribution and amount, or atmospheric composition, approach to which might indicate proximity to a terrestrial biotic-change threshold.

/pdf/climate-and-vegetational-regime-shifts-in-the-late-paleozoic-4q01t3ytbw.pdf

Climate and vegetational regime shifts in the late Paleozoic ice age earth

The Carboniferous floras of the Iberian Peninsula: A synthesis with geological connotations

The Carboniferous of the world

Lithostratigraphic units of the lower part of the Carboniferous in northern León, Spain (with a “Note on some goniatite faunas” by C. H. WAGNER-GENTIS)

Las fallas laterales de tipo strike-slip que se hicieron notar en el Oeste-Suroeste de la Peninsula Iberica en todo el Carbonifero, aunque principalmente en tiempos westfalienses y estefanienses, han resultado en franjas subparalelas de terrenos que son dificiles de restituir a su configuracion primitiva. La naturaleza y datacion de los movimientos principales, de tipo transformante, han quedado patentes sobre todo como resultado de una investigacion detallada sobre la cuenca westfaliense inferior de Penarroya (Cordoba), provocada y deformada tectonicamente por una falla transformante; ademas de las interpretaciones posibles sobre la cuenca del Westfaliense superior y Estefaniense superior en el area de Valongo, ~cerca de Oporto, del Estefaniense C (= Autuniense inferior) de Bu9aco, cerca de Coimbra, y de la cuenca del Viar (Sevilla), de edad Autuniense medio.
	La historia geologica de la cuenca de Penarroya se relata de forma resumida, con un analisis de los datos obtenidos, que la han permitido ver el gran parecido con Ridge Basin del Terciario de California, emblematica por su estrecha relacion con fallas strikeshp de tipo transformante (Falla de San Andres, sobre todo). La informacion publicada sobre las cuencas de Valongo, Bu9aco, Santa Susana y Valdeviar sugiere que hayan tenido un origen parecido al de la cuenca de Penarroya, lo cual induce a pensar que fallas transformantes actuaban durante buena parte del Pensilvanico, quiza unos 15 millones de anos. Se llega a la conclusion que habia tres transformantes como minimo, y que el Macizo Iberico no se consolido en su configuracion actual hasta los comienzos del Permico. Cualquier interpretacion estructural de Ossa Morena y parte colindante de Centroiberica debe tener muy en cuenta el papel de las fallas transformantes carboniferas.

The Iberian Massif: a Carboniferous assembly

The flora of the Kinney Brick Pit, Missourian age, central New Mexico, is revised. Total species diversity, estimated conservatively, is about 30. The flora is dominated by conifers and pteridosperms, and shows a preservational bias in favor of robust remains. Its varied composition reflects the various different habitats in the vicinity of the lagoonal (?) depositional environment. The various taxa identified are almost entirely the same as those known from Lower Rotliegend (Autunian) floras in Europe (Annularia spicata megafloral Zone).

Robert Herman Wagner

Papers

The Carboniferous floras of the Iberian Peninsula: A synthesis with geological connotations

The Carboniferous of the world

Lithostratigraphic units of the lower part of the Carboniferous in northern León, Spain (with a “Note on some goniatite faunas” by C. H. WAGNER-GENTIS)

The Iberian Massif: a Carboniferous assembly

An update on the flora of the Kinney Quarry of Central New Mexico (Upper Pennsylvanian), its preservational and environmental significance