A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes.
03 Oct 2008-Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)-Vol. 322, Iss: 5898, pp 64-68
TL;DR: A history of sea-level fluctuations for the entire Paleozoic by using stratigraphic sections from pericratonic and cratonic basins is reconstructed, revealing a gradual rise through the Cambrian and a short-lived but prominent withdrawal in response to Hirnantian glaciation.
Abstract: Sea levels have been determined for most of the Paleozoic Era (542 to 251 million years ago), but an integrated history of sea levels has remained unrealized. We reconstructed a history of sea-level fluctuations for the entire Paleozoic by using stratigraphic sections from pericratonic and cratonic basins. Evaluation of the timing and amplitude of individual sea-level events reveals that the magnitude of change is the most problematic to estimate accurately. The long-term sea level shows a gradual rise through the Cambrian, reaching a zenith in the Late Ordovician, then a short-lived but prominent withdrawal in response to Hirnantian glaciation. Subsequent but decreasingly substantial eustatic highs occurred in the mid-Silurian, near the Middle/Late Devonian boundary, and in the latest Carboniferous. Eustatic lows are recorded in the early Devonian, near the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary, and in the Late Permian. One hundred and seventy-two eustatic events are documented for the Paleozoic, varying in magnitude from a few tens of meters to ∼125 meters.
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TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of anoxic facies from two North American paleomarine systems, the Late Pennsylvanian Midcontinent Sea (LPMS) and the Late Devonian Seaway (LDS), reveals authigenic Mo-U relationships similar to those of the modern marine environments above, implying similar redox and hydrographic controls.
968 citations
Cites background from "A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level..."
...Water depths across the LDS varied by meters to a few tens of meters in response to secular eustatic fluctuations at timescales of ∼104–106 yr (Johnson et al., 1985; Haq and Schutter, 2008)....
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...depths across the LDS varied by meters to a few tens of meters in response to secular eustatic fluctuations at timescales of ∼10(4)–10(6) yr (Johnson et al., 1985; Haq and Schutter, 2008)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a new terminology for local/regional or relative sea-level changes ( eurybatic shifts) is proposed to distinguish them from global ( eustatic ) sea-Level changes, with the observation that all measures of sealevel change in any given location are euryBatic, even when they include a strong global signal.
836 citations
Additional excerpts
...A rise is even more difficult to quantify because of the possibility of incomplete filling of the depositional accommodation space during the highstand or because of partial or complete erosion of the highstand systems tract following the fall (Haq and Schutter, 2008)....
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TL;DR: The oxygen content of the Earth's surface environment is thought to have increased in two broad steps: the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) around the Archean-Proterozoic boundary and the Neoproterogeneic Oxygenations Event (NOE), during which oxygen possibly accumulated to the levels required to support animal life and ventilate the deep oceans as discussed by the authors.
436 citations
Cites background from "A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level..."
...Furthermore, it must be considered that a long, sustained transgression took place across the Cambrian (Haq and Schutter, 2008) which formed plenty of restricted, marginal basins like in South China and caused repercussions on the biogeochemical cycling and sedimentary record....
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Book•
16 Jan 2017TL;DR: Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of Earth's biota.
Abstract: Using full-colour palaeogeographical maps from the Cambrian to the present, this interdisciplinary volume explains how plate motions and surface volcanism are linked to processes in the Earth's mantle, and to climate change and the evolution of the Earth's biota. These new and very detailed maps provide a complete and integrated Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography. They illustrate the development of all the major mountain-building orogenies. Old lands, seas, ice caps, volcanic regions, reefs, and coal beds are highlighted on the maps, as well as faunal and floral provinces. Many other original diagrams show sections from the Earth's core, through the mantle, and up to the lithosphere, and how Large Igneous Provinces are generated, helping to understand how plates have appeared, moved, and vanished through time. Supplementary resources are available online, making this an invaluable reference for researchers, graduate students, professional geoscientists and anyone interested in the geological history of the Earth.
361 citations
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TL;DR: The Cambrian Period was characterized by the appearance of metazoans with mineralized skeletons, explosion in biotic diversity and disparity, infaunalization of the substrate, occurrence of metazoan Konservat Fossil-lagerstatten, establishment of most invertebrate phyla, strong faunal provincialism, dominance of trilobites, generally warm climate but with possible glacial-interglacial cycles in the later part, opening of the Iapetus Ocean, progressive equatorial drift and separation of Laurentia, Baltica, Siberia,
Abstract: Appearance of metazoans with mineralized skeletons, “explosion” in biotic diversity and disparity, infaunalization of the substrate, occurrence of metazoan Konservat Fossil-lagerstatten, establishment of most invertebrate phyla, strong faunal provincialism, dominance of trilobites, generally warm climate but with possible glacial–interglacial cycles in the later part, opening of the Iapetus Ocean, progressive equatorial drift and separation of Laurentia, Baltica, Siberia, and Avalonia from Gondwana characterize the Cambrian Period.
353 citations
References
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TL;DR: Long-term sea level peaked at 100 ± 50 meters during the Cretaceous, implying that ocean-crust production rates were much lower than previously inferred, and presents a new sea-level record for the past 100 million years.
Abstract: We review Phanerozoic sea-level changes [543 million years ago (Ma) to the present] on various time scales and present a new sea-level record for the past 100 million years (My). Long-term sea level peaked at 100 ± 50 meters during the Cretaceous, implying that ocean-crust production rates were much lower than previously inferred. Sea level mirrors oxygen isotope variations, reflecting ice-volume change on the 10 4 - to 10 6 -year scale, but a link between oxygen isotope and sea level on the 10 7 -year scale must be due to temperature changes that we attribute to tectonically controlled carbon dioxide variations. Sea-level change has influenced phytoplankton evolution, ocean chemistry, and the loci of carbonate, organic carbon, and siliciclastic sediment burial. Over the past 100 My, sea-level changes reflect global climate evolution from a time of ephemeral Antarctic ice sheets (100 to 33 Ma), through a time of large ice sheets primarily in Antarctica (33 to 2.5 Ma), to a world with large Antarctic and large, variable Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (2.5 Ma to the present).
2,740 citations
TL;DR: This calibration of tephras in marine deposits in Morocco to calibrate the age of Fish Canyon sanidine provides tight constraints for the astronomical tuning of pre-Neogene successions, resulting in a mutually consistent age of ∼65.95 Ma for the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.
Abstract: Calibration of the geological time scale is achieved by independent radioisotopic and astronomical dating, but these techniques yield discrepancies of ∼1.0% or more, limiting our ability to reconstruct Earth history. To overcome this fundamental setback, we compared astronomical and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of tephras in marine deposits in Morocco to calibrate the age of Fish Canyon sanidine, the most widely used standard in 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology. This calibration results in a more precise older age of 28.201 ± 0.046 million years ago (Ma) and reduces the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar method9s absolute uncertainty from ∼2.5 to 0.25%. In addition, this calibration provides tight constraints for the astronomical tuning of pre-Neogene successions, resulting in a mutually consistent age of ∼65.95 Ma for the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.
1,261 citations
TL;DR: The concept of major rock-stratigraphic units of interregional scope was introduced in 1948 by Longwell, 1949 as discussed by the authors, and the sedimentary record of the North American craton from late Precambrian to present is characterized by six major unconformities.
Abstract: The concept of major rock-stratigraphic units of interregional scope was introduced in 1948 (Longwell, 1949). It is now possible to restate the concept and to define more explicitly the sequences delimited by interregional unconformities in the continental interior of North America. The sedimentary record of the North American craton from late Precambrian to present is characterized by six major unconformities. These interregional unconformities subdivide the cratonic stratigraphic column into six sequences—major rock-stratigraphic units (of higher than group, megagroup, or supergroup rank) which can be identified, where preserved, in all cratonic interior areas. At the cratonic margins the bounding unconformities tend to disappear in continuous successions, and the cratonic sequences are replaced by others controlled by events in the marginal basins and eugeosynclinal borders. Although the time values of the unconformities vary widely because of differences in degree of nondeposition and amount of erosion, the approximate dates of the regressional maxima represented are: (1) very late Precambrian, (2) early Middle Ordovician, (3) early Middle Devonian, (4) “post-Elvira” Mississippian, (5) early Middle Jurassic, and (6) late Paleocene. A seventh major regression is now in progress.
1,172 citations
Book•
01 Sep 2008
TL;DR: For a detailed discussion of the international divisions of geologic time, see as discussed by the authors, where the authors present the standard colors for the international division of geology time scales in detail.
Abstract: Introduction Planetary time scale Precambrian period Cambrian period Ordovician period Silurian period Devonian period Carboniferous period Permian period Triassic period Jurassic period Cretaceous period Paleogene period Neogene period Quaternary period Appendix Standard colors of the international divisions of geologic time References Index
1,155 citations
TL;DR: A mantle convection model is used to suggest that New Jersey subsided by 105 to 180 meters in the past 70 million years because of North America's westward passage over the subducted Farallon plate, which reconciles New Jersey margin–based sea-level estimates with ocean basin reconstructions.
Abstract: Earth9s long-term sea-level history is characterized by widespread continental flooding in the Cretaceous period (∼145 to 65 million years ago), followed by gradual regression of inland seas. However, published estimates of the Late Cretaceous sea-level high differ by half an order of magnitude, from ∼40 to ∼250 meters above the present level. The low estimate is based on the stratigraphy of the New Jersey margin. By assimilating marine geophysical data into reconstructions of ancient ocean basins, we model a Late Cretaceous sea level that is 170 (85 to 270) meters higher than it is today. We use a mantle convection model to suggest that New Jersey subsided by 105 to 180 meters in the past 70 million years because of North America9s westward passage over the subducted Farallon plate. This mechanism reconciles New Jersey margin–based sea-level estimates with ocean basin reconstructions.
651 citations