Climate Controls on Stratigraphy

The role of climate as a primary control on stratigraphy is the cornerstone of this volume. The emphasis on climate is in distinct contrast to most previous studies, in which stratigraphic variability has been related to changes in sea level and in tectonic activity. Furthermore, the findings, derived from several years of detailed study of modern and ancient key geologic sections around the world, indicate that traditional depositional models generally do not fully explain the origin of fossil fuels. For example, the stratigraphic occurrences of mineable Pennsylvanian coal beds are best explained by a comprehensive global climate model applied to basin-fill sedimentation rather than by the classic deltaic depositional models. In addition, comprehensive global climate models explain more fully the development of hydrocarbon source rocks (black shales), reservoirs, traps, and seals in epicontinental systems. Although the results of the studies presented in this volume are intended to contribute to the disciplines of sedimentary geology and stratigraphy, the contributors recognize that their results may also contribute to a better understanding of global climate change.

The theoretical background of climate control on sediment supply and stratigraphy is presented in the volume. With this background in place, detailed documentation and analysis of climate control on the lithologic variation of a single Middle Pennsylvanian cyclothem (fourth-order sequence) is elucidated. The argument for climate control is strengthened by the ability to correlate this single sequence across the United States, from the Appalachian Basin to California, representing a wide range in temporal and spatial climate change during the Pennsylvanian. The example from the Carboniferous is followed by several case studies in which climate controls sediment supply and stratigraphy in a range of Quaternary environments (deep marine, shallow epeiric seas, and eolian desert settings). A presentation of numerical modeling of Pennsylvanian climates and a discussion of paleoclimatic influences on the occurrences of petroleum complete the volume.

CONTENTS

Part 1. Concepts, Models, and Observations of Climatic Controls on Sedimentation

The Concept of Autocyclic and Allocyclic Controls on Sedimentation and Stratigraphy, Emphasizing the Climatic Variable–C. Blaine Cecil

Precipitation Models for Sediment Supply in Warm Climates–C. Blaine Cecil and Frank T. Dulong

Observations on Climate and Sediment Discharge in Selected Tropical Rivers, Indonesia–C. Blaine Cecil, Frank T. Dulong, Ronald A. Harris, James C. Cobb, Harold G. Gluskoter, and Hendro Nugroho

Hemispheric Asymmetry of the Marine Stratigraphic Record: Conceptual Proof of a Unipolar Ice Cap–Martin A. Perlmutter and Roy E. Plotnick

Part 2. Allocyclic Controls on Middle Pennsylvanian Sedimentation in Cratonic Depositional Systems (U.S.A.)

Middle Pennsylvanian Tectonics of the Conterminous United States–A. Curtis Huffman, Jr.

Conodont Faunas of the Late Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Lower Kittanning Cyclothem, U.S.A.–Robert G. Stamm and Bruce R. Wardlaw

Palynological Perspectives of Late Middle Pennsylvanian Coal Beds (U.S.A.)–Cortland F. Eble

Paleoecology of Marine Beds in the Middle Pennsylvanian Lower Kittanning Cyclothem in North America–Ronald R. West, C. Blaine Cecil, and Frank T. Dulong

Climate Controls on the Stratigraphy of a Middle Pennsylvanian Cyclothem in North America–C. Blaine Cecil, Frank T. Dulong, Ronald R. West, Robert Stamm, Bruce A.Wardlaw, and N. Terence Edgar

Part 3. Some Examples of Climate Controls on Sedimentation

Influence of climate on deep-water clastic sedimentation: Application of a modern model, Peru–Chile Trough, to an ancient system, Ouachita Trough–N. Terence Edgar and C. Blaine Cecil

A Modern Analogue for Tectonic, Eustatic, and Climatic Processes in Cratonic Basins: Gulf of Carpenteria, Northern Australia–
N. Terence Edgar, C. Blaine Cecil, R. Mattick, Allan R. Chivas, Patrick DeDeckker, and Yusuf S. Djajdihardja

The Role of Climate in the Creation and Destruction of Continental Stratigraphic Records: An Example from the Northern Margin of the Sahara Desert–Christopher S. Swezey

The Role of Mountains, Polar Ice, and Vegetation in Determining the Tropical Climate During the Middle Pennsylvanian: Climate Model Simulations–Bette Otto-Bleisner

Climate Controls on Petroleum Systems: The Pennsylvanian of Eastern Wyoming and the "Sinking Reservoir" Model–Thomas S. Ahlbrandt, Jerry L. Clayton, and Christopher J Schenk