Browsing by Subject "Paleogene"
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Item 2-Dimensional Seismic Refraction Mapping Study of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary Complex from the Brazos, Texas Section(2012-07-16) Gowan, Joshua SmithMany scientific studies have been conducted on the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KTB) in the Gulf coast region and, in particular, the Brazos River section in Falls County, Texas. Despite this, there remains much to be learned about the KTB and its depositional environment. Study of the KTB has been multidisciplinary, primarily in the fields of sedimentology and paleontology. Some researchers in these disciplines have questioned the consensus view of the placement of the KTB and subsequent interpretation of the timing of depositional events and mass extinction events. Geophysical methods have potential to provide additional understanding of the physical properties of the KTB. To date, study of the KTB has relied on point data and borehole information to create cross sections of the complex. Seismic refraction surveys can provide spatially continuous information on susburface horizons located adjacent to the KTB. In this study, seismic first-arrival traveltimes are processed with a tomographic modeling program to map the top of the hummocky cross-bedded sandstone (HCS), which is a key indicator of the deposition environment at the time of KTB boundary complex placement. The survey area is located at Cottonmouth Creek, a tributary of the Brazos River. Three seismic lines were surveyed, one across Cottonmouth Creek, and two parallel to the creek on either side. The data from the two parallel lines were processed using the 2-D seismic refraction tomography algorithm of Zelt and Smith. The reconstructed depth to the HCS in the survey area is approximately 6 m, with layer seismic velocities of 364, 1800, and 2200 m/s, respectively. Seismic tomography successfully mapped the HCS layer and reveals approximately 1 m amplitude undulations vertically and undulations on the order of several m horizontally. These variations are consistent with exposed surfaces of the HCS in the creek bed. Seismic refraction has been utilized successfully herein to map a key buried indicator, namely the top of the HCS layer, associated with the KTB complex. A detailed 3-D seismic refraction survey at this site is recommended to generate a high-resolution 2-D terrain map of the top of the HCS layer.Item Lead Isotopic Variations of the Pacific and Implications for Paleogene Water Mass Composition(2013-11-13) Subt, CristinaTo understand the effects changes in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) played on past climate we need to determine where convection occurred. The late Cretaceous and early Paleogene interval (~75 to 35 Ma) was characterized by low meridional temperature gradients. Nd isotopes indicate high-latitude convection in the Pacific Ocean during this interval, with deep waters mixing in the tropical Pacific. Here we investigate the evolution of the Pb isotopic composition of water masses in the Pacific to constrain variability in weathering inputs into the inferred convection regions from ~75 to 35 Ma. We generated ^(206),^(207),^(208)Pb/^(204)Pb isotope records for North Pacific DSDP and ODP Sites 192, 464, and 883, and South Pacific DSDP Sites 323, 463, and 596. South Pacific deep waters increasing in contributions. Pb composition in the subtropical South Pacific also suggests a stronger influence of dust dissolution whereas the Nd composition was dominated by water mass composition. North Pacific Pb values may also have reflected shifting sources during the EECO. The Pb and Nd composition at Site 883 shows a short radiogenic excursion in Pb values ~40 Ma, possibly cased by a short period of strengthened North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) influence on the isotopic composition during the Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO). ^(206)Pb/2^(04)Pb trends differ from ^(207),^(208)Pb/^(204)Pb values, which typically show similar trends to each other?resulting from the mixing of multiple Pb sources. North Pacific sites typically exhibit relatively lower Pb compositions than South Pacific, and evidence from detrital analyses suggests sources of Pb to North Pacific sites received strong contributions of continental dust. Pb and Nd are coupled in North Pacific sites between ~62 and 50 Ma, as well as in the Southern Ocean throughout the study period, indicating the Pb composition in this region was influenced by the composition of advected deep water masses. North Pacific sites also show decoupling of Pb and Nd ~50 Ma, during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), which may be indicative of more distalItem Oceanic and atmospheric response to climate change over varying geologic timescales(2012-07-16) Woodard, Stella C.Global climate is controlled by two factors, the amount of heat energy received from the sun (solar insolation) and the way that heat is distributed Earth's surface. Solar insolation varies on timescales of 10s to 100s of thousands of years due to changes in the path of Earth's orbit about the sun (Milankovitch cycles). Earth's internal boundary conditions, such as paleogeography, the presence/absence of polar icecaps, atmospheric/oceanic chemistry and sea level, provide distribution and feedback mechanisms for the incoming heat. Variations in these internal boundary conditions may happen abruptly or, as in the case of plate tectonics, take millions of years. We use geochemical and sedimentological techniques to investigate the response of ocean chemistry, regional aridity and atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns to climate change during both greenhouse and icehouse climates. To explore the connection between orbitally-forced changes in solar insolation, continental aridity and wind, we generated a high-resolution dust record for ~58 Myr old deep-sea sediments from Shatsky Rise. Our data provide the first evidence of a correlation between dust flux to the deep sea and orbital cycles during the Early Paleogene, indicating dust supply (regional aridity) responded to orbital forcing during the last major interval of greenhouse climate. The change in dust flux was comparable to that during icehouse climates implying subtle variations in solar insolation have a similar impact on climate during intervals of over-all warmth as they do during glacial-interglacial states. The Carboniferous Period (359-299 Ma) marks a critical time in Earth's history when a series of tectonic and biological events caused a shift in the mean climate state from a global "greenhouse" to an "icehouse". Geochemical records extracted from sedimentary rocks deposited in shallow epicontinental seaways are increasingly being used to infer relationships between tectonism, carbon cycling and climate and therefore are assumed to reflect global ocean processes. We analyzed radiogenic isotopes in biogenic apatite along a North American transect to constrain the degree of geochemical coupling between the epicontinental seas and the open ocean. Our results argue strongly for decoupling of North American seaways from the open ocean by latest Mississippian time.Item Systematic paleontological investigation of the metatherian fauna from the Paleogene Uzunçarşıdere Formation, central Turkey(2008-12) Maga, Ali Murat, 1973-; Bell, Christopher J., 1966-The name Metatheria refers to the clade that contains the extant marsupials and also all extinct mammals that are more closely related to extant marsupials than to the placental mammals. Metatherians first appear in the fossil record of Asia during the Early Cretaceous, with younger records in North America (Late Cretaceous), South America (the latest Cretaceous or earliest Paleocene), and finally Australia via Antarctica (by the Eocene). The Cenozoic fossil record of metatherians in the Old World is rather poor. Except for Europe, there are only a handful of metatherian taxa known from Afro-Arabia and Asia, almost all of which are documented only by isolated teeth or partial jaws. Fieldwork at Uzunçarşı, a fossil site in central Turkey, yielded at least three different metatherian taxa, one of which (Anatoliadelphys) is exceptionally preserved and nearly complete. In this study I demonstrate that Anatoliadelphys occupies a more derived position on the metatherian tree than the well-known South American metatherians such as Pucadelphys. My functional morphological investigations indicate that Anatoliadelphys and the South American taxa Pucadelphys and Mayulestes are different from the extant didelphid marsupials of South America in their skeletal adaptations for locomotion. Anatoliadelphys was most likely terrestrial.Item Tephrochronology and Stratigraphy of Eocene and Oligocene Volcanic Ashes of East and Central Texas(2013-12-02) Heintz, MindiSedimentary formations of east and central Texas contain many Eocene to Oligocene volcanic ash beds, with some of the younger ash layers containing hydrated but otherwise unaltered glass shards. This study analyzed samples of 15 volcanic ash beds using neutron activation analysis (NAA) of bulk ash and glass shards, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) of bulk ash, and electron microprobe analysis of both apatite phenocrysts and glass shards to characterize their geochemistry. ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar dating of single sanidine phenocrysts gives an age of 30.64 ?0.03 Ma for the youngest (Sam Rayburn) sample to 41.79 ?0.02 Ma for the oldest (Hurricane Bayou) sample. The nine radiometric dates obtained by this study serve to better constrain the ages of the Claiborne and Jackson Groups and the Catahoula Formation of Texas with the Conquista and Hurricane Bayou ash beds being possible calibration points for the Eocene/Oligocene and Lutetian/Bartonian boundaries, respectively. Geochemical fingerprinting, particularly apatite phenocryst chemistry, supports the correlation of the Little Brazos volcanic ash in Brazos County to volcanic ash deposits in Houston County, Texas, and provides supporting evidence for equivalence to the St. Johns bentonite in Louisiana. Geochemical fingerprinting also suggests equivalence of the Caddell (Koppe Bridge) volcanic ash to deposits within the Gonzales County bentonite mines of south-central Texas. Major element electron microprobe data from seven samples of volcanic glass shards indicate the ash was produced from sub-alkaline rhyolitic volcanism and the trace-element characteristics of all 15 ashes are consistent with subduction-related sources. Rare earth element (REE) data indicates light rare earth element (LREE) enrichment with a moderate Europium anomaly. The Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico is the likely source area, but the Trans-Pecos of Texas and Mogollon-Datil of New Mexico cannot be definitively ruled out as possible eruptive source regions.