Carboniferous

A steep-margined carbonate platform is developed in the Carboniferous synorogenic foreland basin of northern Spain. Dips of 60–90° produced during Late Carboniferous thrusting enable cross-sections of a 4-km-wide portion of the marginal area of this platform (Las Llacerias outcrop) to be studied in aerial photographs at a seismic scale. Three stratal domains are observed: (1) a horizontal-bedded platform; (2) a clinoformal-bedded margin with a relief of up to 500 m; and (3) a low-angle toe-of-slope, where slope beds interfinger with basin sediments. The slope shows well-bedded sigmoidal clinoforms with depositional dips ranging from 15° to 32°. Based on lithology and stratal patterns, four facies groups have been recognized: (1) a flat-topped platform, in which thick algal boundstone, skeletal packstone–grainstone and peloidal micrite wackestone with a poorly rhythmic character prevail; (2) the platform margin and upper slope, characterized by microbial boundstone spanning a bathymetric range of ≈150 m measured from the break of slope; (3) a slope, predominantly composed of margin-derived rudstones and breccias; and (4) a toe-of-slope to basin zone, where a cyclic alternation of spiculitic siltstones, packstone to grainstone calciturbidites and rudstone/breccia is visible. Five successive stages of platform development are deduced: (1) Bashkirian: flooding of the pre-existing Serpukhovian platform giving rise to the nucleation of a low-angle ramp to the south-east of the study area with microbial mud-mound accumulations, and breccias and calciturbidites on the margins; (2) Early Moscovian: an influx of siliciclastic sediment buried part of the platform and reduced the area of carbonate sedimentation; (3) Moscovian: aggradation and progradation of the carbonate system produced an extensive steep-margined and flat-topped shallow-water platform (shelf system); (4) Latest Moscovian–earliest Kasimovian: drowning of the platform; and (5) Kasimovian: covering of the platform by marly calcareous ramp sediments.

This study focusses on aspects related to carbonate build-ups in an upper Paleozoic succession in the south central Norwegian Barents Sea. Seismic and well data are used to map and characterize the protozoan and heterozoan carbonate build-ups in order to assess the factors that control their distribution within the Gipsdalen- and Bjarmeland Groups. The main objectives are (1) to describe, compare, and contrast geomorphological characteristics of the carbonate succession on the Bjarmeland and Finnmark Platforms, (2) to determine the controlling factors on the distribution of the carbonate build-up development, and lastly (3) examine the impact of evaporites on the distribution and development of the carbonate build-ups.

The upper section of the Gipsdalen Group consists of protozoan carbonates and evaporites with occasional carbonate build-ups that were deposited in an arid-warm marine environment in a global icehouse period. The Bjarmeland Group consists of heterozoan carbonates with build-ups deposited in post-glacial environment. Previous studies have suggested that faults play a role in the distribution of carbonate build-ups in the Norwegian Barents Sea.

The two areas on the Finnmark Platform (north and south) have been used in order to compare against two areas on Bjarmeland Platform (east and west). The carbonate build-up sequence observed on the eastern Bjarmeland Platform is comparable with the build-up sequence on the northern Finnmark Platform. The two areas share similarities as both are located on footwall uplifts. The geomorphology of these carbonate units are characterized as large build-up complexes. In contrast, the geomorphology of the western Bjarmeland Platform and the southern Finnmark Platform differs significantly. These units consist of polygonal build-up morphologies of reticulated arrangement with cellular structures of various scales; this depositional pattern is similar in architecture to modern patch and pinnacle reef systems observed in Holocene carbonate systems (e.g. Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia). The similarities defining these elements are that carbonate build-ups stack vertically above the layered evaporite sequence of the Gipsdalen Group. The layered evaporite sequences are observed on both platforms where salt pillows are a main characteristic. The carbonate build-ups deposit vertically above thin units of evaporites, opposed to laterally absent where the salt pillows are present, suggesting that salt has been displaced by the weight of the growing build-up. The result supports antecedent topography as a dominant component affecting the carbonate build-up succession in the eastern Bjarmeland Platform and the northern Finnmark Platform. Furthermore, the build-up development in the two areas on western Bjarmeland Platform, and southern Finnmark Platform, has been controlled by physical conditions influenced by a combination of biotic self-organization, fossil reef growth and karst-induced structures caused by dissolution of the underlying carbonate strata. The current geomorphology of the carbonate build-up succession has been enhanced due to remobilization of the mobile evaporite unit as a result of differential loading by the carbonate build-ups.

A number of motored auger holes have been drilled in 2002 and 2006 in four sand-clay deposits preserved in dissolution pockets within the Dinantian limestones of the watershed north of the Vesdre valley. These deposits of unknown age are currently classified as (Tertiary) SBL in the new geological map of Wallonia. We present detailed lithostratigraphic logs of the deposits and describe the results of sedimentological and mineralogical analyses. In particular, K-Ar dating of neoformed Mn oxides found at the base of one augerhole at Rechain yielded ages ranging from Cenomanian to Santonian, allowing us to place the Rechain and Andrimont deposits within the early Late Cretaceous. This is fully consistent with their topographic location very close beneath the trace of the pre-Cretaceous erosion surface and makes them the westernmost remains of the Hergenrath Member of the Late Cretaceous Aachen Formation. To the west, the Magnee deposit is more "typical SBL", probably correspo...

A compositional study of sandstones belonging to the lower section of the Paganzo Group (Middle Carboniferous–Early Permian) in the Paganzo Basin (northwestern Argentina) helps unravel the stratigraphic and paleogeographic evolution of the basin. Three morphotectonic units constitute the complex basement of the basin: (1) to the east, the igneous–metamorphic basement of the Sierras Pampeanas and Famatina systems; (2) to the west, the Precordillera, made up of Early and Middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks; and (3) the Upper Paleozoic volcanic arc along the western boundary with the Río Blanco Basin. On the basis of sandstone detrital modes of the Lagares, Malanzán, Loma Larga, Guandacol, Tupe, Punta del Agua, and Río del Peñón formations, seven petrofacies are distinguished: quartzofeldespathic (QF), quartzofeldespathic-metamorphic enriched (QF-Lm), quartzofeldespathic-sedimentary enriched (QF-Ls), mixed quartzolithic (QL), quartzolithic-volcanic (QLv), volcanolithic-quartzose (LvQ), and volcanolithic (Lv). The spatial and temporal distribution of these petrofacies suggest an evolutive model for the Upper Paleozoic sedimentary filling of the basin that includes three “petrosomes”: (1) the basement petrosome, a clastic wedge of arkosic composition that diachronically prograded and thinned from east to west; (2) the recycled orogen petrosome, revealing the Protoprecordillera as a positive element in the western Paganzo Basin during the Namurian; and (3) the volcanic arc petrosome, recording volcanic activity along the western margin of Gondwana during the Westphalian.

Over I6,000 conodonts have been extracted from the upper Dinantian (upper Courceyan to Brigantian stages) and early Namurian (Pendleian Stage) strata of the Craven Lowlands. Seventy three species and subspecies have been identified from 25 genera. One new genus and species, Embsaygnathus asymmetricus and 7 new species, Cloghergnathus cravenus, Clydagnathus? hudsoni, Metalon­chodina sp. nov. A, Metalonchodina sp. nov. B, Neoprioniodus discretus, Pseudopolygnathus minutus, Synprioniodina spathata are described. Six local-range biozones and two subzones based on the first appearance of selected species are proposed. The zones and subzones are in ascending order: Pseudopolygnathus minutus Zone, Mestognathus beckmanni­-Polygnathus bischoffi Zone (with a Gnathodus texanus pseudosemiglaber Subzone at the top), Gnathodus homopunc­tatus Zone, Gnathodus commutatus Zone (with a Gnathodus girtyi Subzone at the top), Gnathodus bilineatus Zone and Gnathodus nodosus Zone. Correlations based upon these zones and subzones in the Craven Lowlands indicate that all the sampled horizons in the Swinden and Broughton anticlines are of Chadian age. The base of the Arundian Stage in the Clitheroe Anticline is believed to lie within the Cephalopod Shales and not at the base of the Salt Hill Cap Beds as advocated by George and others ( l 976). Correlations with Belgium indicates that the Tournai­sian-Visean boundary in the type area of Dinant, Bel­gium, may be represented by a non-sequence. Possible non-sequences are also suggested in the Dinantian of Germany and Spain and Portugal.

X-ray microtomography (XMT) was applied to three species of the extinct arachnid order Trigonotarbida, hosted in siderite nodules from the late Carboniferous British Middle Coal Measures. All three, Cryptomartus hindi (Pocock, 1911), Cleptomartus plautus (Petrunkevitch, 1949) and Maiocercus celticus (Pocock, 1902), belong to the family Anthracomartidae. As well as providing interactive three-dimensional visualisations of their likely appearance in life, XMT study has resolved new morphological detail, yielding key data about the likely stance and habitus of these early arachnids. Similarities in the form of the carapace, eyes and coxosternal region between anthracomartids and the Devonian genus PalaeocharinusHirst, 1923 are highlighted. Analogies in limb disposition are drawn between anthracomartids and modern crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae), which exhibit sit-and-wait style predatory behaviour. Anthracomartids are relatively common fossils at many Coal Measures localities. Although they appear to exhibit limited morphological variation, numerous genera and species have been proposed in the literature, often distinguished from each other on rather trivial characters. From our reconstruction of well-preserved examples, we have resolved a number of common features likely to be present in a typical anthracomartid. Comparisons to this model suggest that the characters on which many anthracomartid genera are distinguished may be artefacts of preservation. We hence treat PromygaleFrič, 1901, BrachylycosaFrič, 1904, PerneriaFrič, 1904, CoryphomartusPetrunkevitch, 1945, CryptomartusPetrunkevitch, 1945, PleomartusPetrunkevitch, 1945, CleptomartusPetrunkevitch, 1949 and OomartusPetrunkevitch, 1953 as junior synonyms of the type genus of the family, AnthracomartusKarsch, 1882. Only the genera BrachypygeWoodward, 1878 and MaiocercusPocock, 1911 are additionally retained. Within Anthracomartus, Cleptomartus planusPetrunkevitch, 1949, Cryptomartus meyeriGuthörl, 1964, Cleptomartus hangardiGuthörl, 1965 and Cryptomartus rebskeiBrauckmann, 1984 are treated as junior synonyms of A. hindiPocock, 1911 (all syn. nov.). Cleptomartus plautusPetrunkevitch, 1949 and Anthracomartus denuitiPruvost, 1922 are treated as junior synonyms of A. priestiPocock, 1911 (both syn. nov.).

May, A. (2021): Fossils explained 79: Rugose corals. - Geology Today, vol. 37 (1): p. 31-38; Hoboken, NJ.

Abstract: Rugose corals are an extinct group of marine animals that are frequently found in Palaeozoic shallow marine sediments. Just like their counterparts the stony corals (the Scleractinia) do today, during the Palaeozoic the ru gose corals were important constructors of reefs. Although at first glance rugose corals look very similar to the Scleractinia, they differ in important details. The rugose corals are a very special group whose relationships have been disputed for a long time. They were restricted to the Palaeozoic Era and experienced an exciting evolutionary history of victories and defeats; there were times when they built up huge reefs (and were valuable in stratigraphy), and other times when they suffered through extinction events.

Carboniferous conodonts are reported for the first time fromMyanmar (Burma). Conodont faunas representative
of the Scaliognathus anchoralis and Gnathodus typicus–Protognathodus cordiformis conodont zones date the
sampled Taungnyo Group south of Loi Kaw, Kayah State as late Tournaisian confirming a Mississippian (Lower
Carboniferous) age for the sampled part of this stratigraphic unit. The dated strata are stratigraphically just
below the Tournaisian–Visean (T-V) boundary. Tournaisian strata are thus for the first time unequivocally
demonstrated in the Shan Plateau region of Myanmar. Similar conodont faunas from the T-V boundary interval
in SE Asia indicate a complete stratigraphic sequence at this level in shallow-marine sequences on intra-
Tethyan Cathaysian tectonic blocks (South China) and in deep-marine Palaeo-Tethyan sediments (cherts of the
Inthanon suture zone, Thailand). However, in shallow-marine sequences on the Sibumasu Block, located on
the NE margin of Gondwana in the Carboniferous, they demonstrate a non-sequence or unconformity at this
level, also seen elsewhere in Gondwana. Biogeographic links between upper Tournaisian and early Visean
conodonts on the Sibumasu Terrane and Laurentia and Eastern Australian Gondwana support a NW Australian
Gondwana margin position for Sibumasu in the Late Palaeozoic.

The Carboniferous, the time of Earth’s penultimate icehouse and widespread coal formation, was dominated by extinct lineages of early-diverging vascular plants. Studies of nearest living relatives of key Carboniferous plants suggest that their physiologies and growth forms differed substantially from most types of modern vegetation, particularly forests. It remains a matter of debate precisely how differently and to what degree these long-extinct plants influenced the environment. Integrating biophysical analysis of stomatal and vascular conductivity with geochemical analysis of fossilized tissues and process-based ecosystem-scale modeling yields a dynamic and unique perspective on these paleoforests. This integrated approach indicates that key Carboniferous plants were capable of growth and transpiration rates that approach values found in extant crown-group angiosperms, differing greatly from comparatively modest rates found in their closest living relatives. Ecosystem modeling suggests that divergent stomatal conductance, leaf sizes and stem life span between dominant clades would have shifted the balance of soil–atmosphere water fluxes, and thus surface runoff flux, during repeated, climate-driven, vegetation turnovers. This synthesis highlights the importance of ‘whole plant’ physiological reconstruction of extinct plants and the potential of vascular plants to have influenced the Earth system hundreds of millions of years ago through vegetation–climate feedbacks.

Detailed sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic analysis of Carboniferous (Tournaisian to Moscovian) strata exposed in the north-western Murzuq Basin and southern Ghadames Basin, western Libya, provides new insights into the sedimentary response of the northern Gondwana margin to climate and sea-level change.The Lower Carboniferous Marar and Assedjefar Formations can be divided into five depositional sequences of 3rd order. In total 27 facies types are defined, grouped into four facies associations: offshore shales, shallow marine clastics, fluvial sandstones and marine carbonates.The bulk of the Lower Carboniferous interval is dominated by an alternation of offshore shales and shallow marine clastics, which were deposited during the transgressive and highstand systems tracts. The clastic deposits mostly consist of laterally persistent coarsening and thickening upward cycles with a common succession from basal hummocky cross-stratified sandstones to ripple-laminated sandstones, capped by multidirectional cross-stratified sandstones.Within the lowstand systems tracts, lenticular sandbodies have been identified, which vary in thickness from 1.5 m (ca. 40 m wide) to 50 m (ca. 1.5 km wide). These are interpreted to be fluvial channel complexes based on their geometry, erosive base, and presence of thick stacked sandstones with unidirectional planar and trough cross-bedding, the absence of bioturbation and occurrence of land plant fragments. These channel complexes mostly cut down into offshore shales, and are interpreted to be bound at the base by sequence boundaries. Palaeogeographic maps generated for each lowstand system show the location and palaeoflow direction of these fluvial channel complexes. They are interpreted to represent large incised valleys filled with thick fluvial sandstones. Their identification and distribution indicates repeated exposure of large areas of western Libya, most-likely controlled by major eustatic sea-level changes.The Assedjefar Formation exibits a gradual decrease in coarse clastic sediment supply throughout the Serpukhovian and by the Bashkirian and Moscovian during the deposition of the Dembaba Formation a carbonate depositional system was established. Limestones are dominantly made up of a heterozoan fauna (brachiopods, crinoids, bryozoans, gastropods) and are mostly preserved as shallow marine storm and coastal deposits. It is hypothesised that a local increase in aridity and/or the gradual erosion and decreasing topography of the hinterland mountains, with the resulting reduction in discharge, controlled this shift from clastic to carbonate deposition.Available data indicate that the Murzuq Basin was interconnected with the Ghadames Basin at this time and is a postdepositional basin with respect to the Carboniferous interval. The sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic data from the present study offer new insights into the depositional setting and facies distribution in the Carboniferous, and the recognition of major incised fluvial systems has significant implications in the search for potential Carboniferous hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Murzuq, Ghadames, and Illizi Basins.

Nine palynological intervals, A-I in ascending order, are recognised in the Carboniferous succession of the well 7120/2-1 on the Loppa High in the western Barents Sea.Within the Billefjorden Group intervals A-E are correlated with the early Viséan to Serpukhovian Pu to TK Miospore Zones of western Europe. The known sedimentation break between the Billefjorden and Gipsdalen groups occurred in the Serpukhovian, as interval G of the lower part of the Gipsdalen Group is equivalent to the late Serpukhovian SO Miospore Zone. Lycospora pusilla and Densosporites spp. dominate these assemblages, indicating humid conditions. The topmost interval I correlates with early Moscovian palynofloras of the Arctic. It is at the oldest equivalent with the NJ Miospore Zone. Assemblages within this interval are dominated by the monosaccate pollen Florinites and Potonieisporites, with abundant taeniate and non-taeniate bisaccate pollen, indicating deposition under a dry climatic regime.

Kurzfassung Seit Jahrhunderten werden in den oberkarbonischen Sandsteinen des Kyffhäusers meterlange, verkieselte Stämme gefunden, die den ältesten versteinerten Wald Deutschlands repräsentieren. Obwohl ihre wissen-schaftliche Erforschung bis in die Frühzeit der Paläobotanik zurückverfolgt werden kann, blieben die Her-kunft, die Versteinerungsumstände und das exakte Alter der fossilen Stämme ungeklärt. Mit dem Ziel, die Stratigraphie und den Ablagerungsraum der einbettenden Gesteine zu klären, wird eine hochauflösende Dokumentation der Sedimentpetrographie und-architekturen vorgestellt. Anhand der U-Pb-Datierung von Zirkonen eines bereits seit den 1960er Jahren im oberen Profilabschnitt bekannten Kristalltuffs wird zum er-sten Mal ein radiometrisches Mindestalter von 299±3,2 Ma vorgelegt. Die Ergebnisse belegen für die knapp 700 m mächtigen, Kieselholz führenden Rotsedimente eine Ablagerung in großdimensionierten, verwil-derten Flusssystemen am NW-Rand des Saale-Beckens. Hyperkonzentrierte bis sedimentarme Schüttungen dominierten die Sedimentation bei hoher Akkumulationsrate und führten Stämme aus den Liefergebieten als Treibhölzer mit. Die Faziesmuster spiegeln die sukzessive Überdeckung einer Paläohochlage der Mittel-deutschen Kristallinzone wider und dokumentieren die Interaktion flusseigener Prozesse, synsedimentärer Tektonik, saisonal-wechselfeuchten Klimas und profilaufwärts abnehmenden Akkomodationsraumes. Kao-linsandsteinfazies, fluviatile Sedimentarchitekturen und Kieselholzführung begründen die Zuordnung der Sedimentabfolge zur Siebigerode-Formation. Durch die räumliche Analyse von Faziesarchitekturen stellt der Kyffhäuser eines der am besten untersuchten Profile der Siebigerode-Formation dar.

This Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps shows the changing paleogeography from the Early Mississippian (Tournasian, 352.3 Ma) to the Early Permian (Kungurian, 273.1 Ma).  The maps are from volume 4 of the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS (Scotese, 2014). Absolute age assignments are from Gradstein, Ogg & Smith (2008). 

The following maps are included in the Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps:

Map 53  Early Permian (Kungurian, 273.1 Ma) Highstand Systems Tract
Map 54  Early Permian (Artinskian, 280 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface 
Map 55  Early Permian (Sakmarian, 289.5 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 56  Early Permian (Asselian, 296.8 Ma) Sakmarian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 57  Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian, 301.2 Ma) Asselian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 58  Late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian, 305.3 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 59  Middle Pennsylvanian (Moscovian, 309.5) Transgressive Systems Tract
Map 60  Early Pennsylvanian (Bashkirian, 314.9 Ma) Bashkirian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 61  Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian, 323.2 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 62  Middle Mississippian (late Visean, 332.5 Ma) Highstand Systems Tract
Map 63  Middle Mississippian (early Visean, 341.1 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 64  Early Mississippian (Tournasian, 352.3 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface


This work should be cited as
Scotese,  C.R., 2014.  Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps (Mollweide Projection), Maps 53 – 64, Volumes 4, The Late Paleozoic, PALEOMAP Atlas for ArcGIS, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

May, A. (1984a): Geologie Westfalens. Eine Einführung (Erdgeschichte, Fossilien, Mineralien). - In: Bergkamen gestern und heute, vol. 10 + 11: 1-74, 23 figs., 2 tabs.; Bergkamen (Heimatmuseum Stadt Bergkamen).

A short overview on the geology of the northwestern Sauerland and the southwestern Münsterland.

ABSTRACT--Charting the broad patterns of vascular plant evolution for Gondwana against the major global environmental shifts and events is attempted here for the first time. This is based on the analysis of the major vascular plant-bearing formations of the southern continents (plus India) correlated against the standard geological time-scale. Australia, followed closely by South America, are shown to yield by far the most complete sequences of productive strata. Ten seminal turnover pulses in the unfolding evolutionary picture are identified and seen to be linked to continental drift, climate change and mass global extinctions. The rise of vascular plants along the tropical belt, for instance, followed closely after the end-Ordovician warming and extinction. Equally remarkable is that the Late Devonian extinction may have caused both the terrestrialisation of the vertebrates and the origin of the true gymnosperms. The end-Permian extinction, closure of lapetus, together with warming, appears to have set in motion an unparalleled, explosive, gymnosperm radiation; whilst the Late Triassic extinction dramatically curtailed it. It is suggested that the latitudinal diversity gradient clearly recognised today, where species richness increases towards the tropics, may have been partly reversed during phases of Hot House climate. Evidence hints at this being particularly so at the heyday of the gymnosperms in the Late Triassic super-Hot House world. As for the origin of terrestrial, vascular, plant life, the angiosperms seem closely linked to a phase of marked shift from Ice House to Hot House.
Insect and tetrapod evolutionary patterns are discussed in the context of the plants providing the base of the ever-changing ecosystems. Intimate co-evolution is often evident. This isn't always the case, for example the non-linkage between the dominant, giant, long-necked, herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs and the dramatic radiation of the flowering plants in the Mid-Cretaceous.

RÉSUMÉ--Pour la première fois, une tentative de reconnaissance des modes principaux de l'evolution de la plante vasculaire du Gondwana en fonction des variations d'environnements et des événements globaux majeurs est présentée ici. Elle se fonde sur l'analyse des grandes formations à plantes vasculaires des continentaux méridionaux (plus l'Inde) corrélées avec les niveaux d'étage en fonction de l'échelle standard des temps géologiques. L'Australie, suivie de près par l'Amérique du Sud, montre les séquences de strates productives de loin les plus complètes. Dix épisodes de bouleversement sont identifiés dans l'établissement du tableau de l'évolution et sont liés de façons variées à la dérive des continents, aux changements climatiques et aux extinctions globales en masse. Par exemple, la progression des plantes vasculaires dans la zone tropicale a suivi de près le réchauffement et l'extinction de la fin de l'Ordovicien. Il est également remarquable que l'extinction du Dévonien tardif a pu déclencher à la fois la sortie des eaux des Vertébrés et l'origine des vrais Gymnospermes. L'extinction de la fin du Permien, et la fermeture de l'Ocean Iapetus, avec le réchauffement, semble avoir mis en mouvement une expansion explosive, sans parallèle, des Gymnospermes que l'extinction du Trias tardif a stoppée de façon brutale. Il est suggéré que le gradient de diversité en fonction de la latitude, clairement reconnu aujourd'hui, la richesse en nombre d'espèces augmentant vers les tropiques, a pu s'inverser en partie lors des phases de climat à effet de serre. L'apogée des Gymnospermes au Trias tardif sous un climat de super-effet de serre constitue un argument. Comme dans le cas de l'origine des plantes vasculaires terrestres, l'origine des Angiospermes semble étroitement liée à une phase de transition marquée d'un climat glaciaire à un climat chaud.
Les modes d'évolution des Insectes et des Tétrapodes, quoique non reportés, sont discutés dans le contexte des végétaux constituant la base des écosystèmes toujours en réorganisation. Des évolutions intimement mêlées sont souvent évidentes. Ce n'est pas toujours le cas, par exemple l'absence de lien entre les Dinosaures Sauropodes herbivores à long cou dominants et l'expansion extraordinaire des plantes à fleurs au cours du Crétacé moyen.

These maps (rectilinear projection) are from the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS (Scotese, 2013a-f).  This is a digital atlas of plate tectonic, paleogeographic, and paleoclimatic reconstructions designed for use with the GIS software, ArcMap (ESRI).  Table 1 lists the various types of maps that comprise the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas.  The maps included in this folio are highlighted in bold text (Table 1).
The last map in each folio is a rectilinear graticule that can be overlain on the maps to provide a geographic reference frame.  A rectilinear projection was used because it can be easily georeferenced in ArcMap and transformed into a variety of other map projections.  The rectilinear map projection can also be directly “wrapped” onto a spherical projection, like the oneused by Google Earth. A set of Google Earth paleoglobes has made from the maps in this folio. These Google Earth paleoglobes can be downloaded at: www.globalgeology.com. 
If the map you need is missing, or if there doesn’t seem to be a map folio for the exact time interval of interest, please contact me (cscotese@gmail.com). Table 2 lists all the time intervals that comprise the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS. The PaleoAtlas contains one map for every stage in the Phanerozoic, as well as 6 maps for the late Precambrian.  Eventually, Map Folios, like this one, will be published for every time interval in the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas.  The following section is a brief description of the maps that makeup the Map Folio.

This map folio should be referenced as:
Scotese, C.R., 2013. Map Folio 57, Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian 301.2 Ma), PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS, volume 4, Late Paleozoic Paleogeographic, Paleoclimatic and Plate Tectonic Reconstructions, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

The Palynology and Stratigraphy of Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary rocks and metasediments outcropping along the Porto-Tomar shear zone are described and interpreted. The Palynology and Stratigraphy of the Santa Susana Basin and of the Odivelas Limestone are also described and interpreted.
There is a discontinuous sedimentary record possibly associated with the Porto-Tomar shear zone extending from the Late Devonian to the Pennsylvanian. From the Late Devonian to the Mississippian, the sedimentation was marine, essentially turbiditic, with a general shallowing trend. The thermal maturation of these rocks (Albergaria-a-Velha Unit) is high, and the unit is considered to be post-mature in terms of hydrocarbon generation potential. The incipient metamorphism is accompanied by intense deformation.
The Buçaco basin is entirely terrestrial and its age is restricted to the Gzhelian (upper Pennsylvanian). The sedimentation is clearly controlled by the Porto- Tomar shear zone. Its thermal maturity is relatively low (within catagenesis range) and the deformation milder, contrasting with the Albergaria-a-Velha Unit.
The contact between the two is tectonic. The field evidences and the thermal maturity data of the basin and surrounding units point to an important regional thermal and deformation event that took place between the Serpukovian and the Gzhelian and another, essentially tectonic, between the Gzhelian and the Carnian (Upper Triassic).
The Santa Susana basin has similarities with the Buçaco basin as it is also within an important shear zone, in this case separating the Ossa-Morena and South Portuguese Zones. Its age is kasimovian, and possibly moscovian (middle Pennsylvanian). The thermal evolution of the basin and the structural relations with the surrounding units point to a regional scale thermal and tectonic event occurring between the Viséan and the (?)Moscovian- Kasimovian.
The detailed study of several occurrences of the Odivelas Limestone allow an insight to the regional palaeogeography of the Western Ossa-Morena Zone during the latest Emsian – Givetian interval (latest lower Devonian – middle Devonian): marine (and possibly sub-aerial) volcanic activity forming volcanic buildings on top of which reef communities developed (and possibly on structural highs). The reef biota persisted, in terms of diversity, during all or most of this time interval. The basal Choteč event is recorded in one of these occurrences.

This diagram show the rise and fall of global temperatures during the last 540 million years.  Scotese (2016) describes how this curve was made.  It replaces the curve published in Scotese et al., (1999).

PETM= Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (55.8 Ma), EEOC = Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (54 Ma – 46 Ma), MECO = Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum(42 Ma), EOT = Eocene-Oligocene Transition (40 Ma – 33 Ma), MMCO=Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (15Ma – 13Ma), LGM = Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years ago), 2016 = Modern MAT, PAW = Post-Anthropogenic Warming .  White stars indicate rapid cooling episodes (Stoll-Schrag Events26) at 160Ma, 127Ma, 97Ma, 91Ma, 71Ma, and 65 Ma).  Black stars represent rapid warming episodes (Kidder-Worsley Events16) at (Present-day, 15Ma, 43Ma, 56Ma, 65Ma, 93Ma, 120Ma, 183Ma, 200Ma, 251Ma, 300Ma, 359Ma, 374Ma, 444Ma, 499Ma, 520Ma, and 542 Ma).

Please cite as:  Scotese, C.R., 2015.  Phanerozoic Temperature Curve, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

To learn more about how this curve was produced see:
Scotese, C.R., 2016.  Some thoughts Global Climate Change: The Transition from Icehouse to Hothouse, in Scotese, C.R., Earth History: The Evolution of the Earth System as Revealed through Plate Tectonics, Paleogeography, Paleoclimate, and the Evolution of Life, PALEOMAP Project, (in preparation), Evanston, IL.

During construction work between 2010 and 2012 a large road cut in Flöha enabled collection of a diverse middle
Pennsylvanian flora embedded in pyroclastic deposits. Fossil plants consisting of sphenopsids, ferns, lycopsids and gymnosperms, confirm and delimit the stratigraphic age of the Flöha-Formation as Bolsovian, which is in accordance with the radiometric age of 310±2 Ma obtained from the plant-bearing horizon. Several plants were detected for the first time from the Flöha-Formation, such as various sphenopterid, mariopterid and neuropterid pteridophylls, calamitalean and cordaitalean fructifications and woods, sphenophyllalean leaves and strobili, zygopterid and psaroniaceous ferns. Preservational forms comprise compression-impression types, casts and also permineralised
stems. The pyroclastics at the outcrop were described as being of the palaeorhyolite type Schweddey and consist of more or less welded lapilli-containing, poorly sorted ash tuffs, whose origin is attributed to a pyroclastic density current. This palaeorhyolite was compared with other palaeorhyolites in the region and is best understood as a separate volcanic emplacement event - distinct in space and time from other palaeorhyolites.
Our results and considerations thus challenge the Permian stratigraphic age of the fossil ferns (Tubicaulis, Zygopteris)
described by Cotta (1832) from the Gückelsberg quarry at Flöha.

The older continental part of Southeast Asia is a composite of four tectonic blocks (Sibumasu, Manabor, Indochina and South China Blocks) which have had independent pre-Triassic histories.
Carboniferous sediments on these blocks are predominantly shallow marine with subordinate epicontinental and continental deposits. The Carboniferous of the Sibumasu Block consists of continental margin deposits including extensive glacial-marine diamictites. Shallow marine elastics (with reefal limestones) and abundant volcanics are the main Carboniferous deposits on the Manabor Block which is interpreted as a possible Island Arc during the Carboniferous. The central part of the Indochina Block was emergent throughout the Carboniferous and was bordered by epicontinental and shallow marine deposits.
Carboniferous faunas of Southeast Asia are predominantly of Eurasian aspect but genera typical of Australian and North American provinces also occur indicating connections between these and Southeast Asia at certain times.
Stratigraphical and palaeomagnetic evidence suggests that the Sibumasu Block was adjacent to Gondwana throughout the Carboniferous. The relative positions of the Manabor and Indochina Blocks are however uncertain.

The Carboniferous, the time of Earth’s penultimate icehouse and widespread coal formation,
was dominated by extinct lineages of early-diverging vascular plants. Studies of nearest living
relatives of key Carboniferous plants suggest that their physiologies and growth forms differed
substantially from most types of modern vegetation, particularly forests. It remains a matter of
debate precisely how differently and to what degree these long-extinct plants influenced the
environment. Integrating biophysical analysis of stomatal and vascular conductivity with
geochemical analysis of fossilized tissues and process-based ecosystem-scale modeling yields a
dynamic and unique perspective on these paleoforests. This integrated approach indicates that
key Carboniferous plants were capable of growth and transpiration rates that approach values
found in extant crown-group angiosperms, differing greatly from comparatively modest rates
found in their closest living relatives. Ecosystem modeling suggests that divergent stomatal
conductance, leaf sizes and stem life span between dominant cladeswouldhave shifted the balance
of soil–atmosphere water fluxes, and thus surface runoff flux, during repeated, climate-driven,
vegetation turnovers. This synthesis highlights the importance of ‘whole plant’ physiological
reconstruction of extinct plants and the potential of vascular plants to have influenced the Earth
system hundreds of millions of years ago through vegetation–climate feedbacks

—Taxonomic analysis is provided for a Middle Pennsylvanian macrofloral assemblage collected from clastic wetland deposits in Clay County, Indiana, on the eastern margin of the Illinois Basin. Adpressed plant fossils were recovered from four distinct beds in the lowermost Staunton Formation, positioned above the Minshall Coal (uppermost Brazil Formation), part of a succession deposited near the Atokan-Desmoinesian boundary. The assemblage of 22 fossil-taxa is dominated by pteridosperms (including Neuropteris flexuosa, Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri, Alethopteris densinervosa, Neuropteris ovata, Eusphenopteris neuropteroides, and Neuropteris missouriensis) with lesser cordaitaleans (Cordaites spp. indet.) and sphenopsids (particularly Sphenophyllum cuneifo-lium). Lycopsids are uncommon, and ferns are rare. In contrast, the microfloral assemblage from the Minshall Coal and overlying clastic units is dominated by lycopsid and tree fern spores. Comparisons with established biozonation schemes yield different ages depending on the regional biostratigraphic framework used: (1) latest Bolsovian (Radiizonates difformis Biozone, American microfloras); (2) latest Bolsovian or earliest Asturian ('Neuropteris' rarinervis Biozone, Appalachian Basin macrofloras); or (3) earliest Asturian (Linopteris obliqua Biozone, European macrofloras). The placement and correlation of the Bolsovian-Asturian and Atokan-Desmoinesian boundaries, which have traditionally been equated by palynology, are evaluated in the context of this discordance. Several revised stratigraphic scenarios are proposed for this interval in the Illinois Basin, which is being increasingly recognized as a time of significant environmental change throughout Euramerica. Homotaxial comparisons with European macro-floral assemblages indicate that, of the 18 biological taxa recorded, between 14 and 17 (78–94%) also are common in coeval wetland deposits in Europe. The similarities exemplify the spatial conservatism and low diversity of wetland plant communities over vast areas of tropical Euramerica, a manifestation of the intrinsically stressful conditions that characterize such habitats, and indicates that neither the Laurentian Shield nor the Appalachian-Variscan Mountains were an insurmountable barrier to plant dispersal during the Middle Pennsylvanian.