The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) monsoonal climate of the British Isles: evidence from growth rings in fossil woods
The Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) monsoonal climate of the British Isles: evidence from growth rings in fossil woods
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DOI：
10.1017/s0016756899002307
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发表时间：
1999-03
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
H. Falcon-Lang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
H. Falcon-Lang
早石炭世（Courceyan-Arundian）时期，不列颠群岛位于古纬度南纬 4°。本文研究了来自爱尔兰西部和苏格兰南部十个地点的裸子植物化石，以分析古气候。研究的 77 个化石木材标本中，有 52% 的年轮具有微妙的、不连续的年轮边界和狭窄但宽度可变的年轮增量。这些年轮经过定性和定量分析，结果显示与现代南洋杉针叶林的年轮非常相似；这些南洋杉的年轮是根据与季风环流相关的热带降雨季节性而形成的。因此，这项研究的结果支持了基于沉积学证据的早期古气候解释，这些解释表明不列颠群岛在早石炭世（Courceyan-Arundian）时期经历了季风气候。
The British Isles lay at a palaeolatitude of 4°S during the Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) period. This paper examines fossil gymnosperm wood from ten localities in western Ireland and southern Scotland in order to analyse palaeoclimate. Fifty-two percent of the 77 fossil wood specimens studied exhibit growth rings that possess subtle, discontinuous ring boundaries and ring increments of narrow but variable width. These growth rings are qualitatively and quantitatively analysed, and are shown to bear a close similarity to growth rings in modern araucarian conifer woods; these araucarian growth rings are formed in response to tropical rainfall seasonality linked to monsoonal circulation. The findings of this study therefore support earlier palaeoclimatic interpretations, based on sedimentological evidence, which suggest that the British Isles experienced a monsoonal climate during the Early Carboniferous (Courceyan–Arundian) period.