COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Morphology, Geochemistry and Stable Isotope Compositions of Vertic Paleosols as Indicators of Paleozoic Paleoclimates

这是一项由C.I.莫拉和S.G. Driese（田纳西大学;牵头机构）和D.E. Fastovsky（罗得岛大学）支持正在进行的研究 反映了古生代的古气候， 中部和南部保存的垂直古土壤 阿巴拉契亚沉积序列。 这项研究利用了 广泛的时空分布和气候依赖性 这些古土壤，以及它们对稳定同位素的适应性， 分析. 形态学、地球化学和稳定同位素 组成的垂直古土壤形成的数据库， study. 垂直特征的古土壤暴露在六个州， 代表河流和边缘海洋环境， 从奥陶纪到二叠纪。 因为垂直古土壤， 与其它古土壤类型的比较， 气候变量，如年干湿循环和亚热带 在热带条件下，这些古土壤是理想的主题， 重建古气候变量。 此外，共同 成壤碳酸盐的出现允许估计每年的 降雨量（基于结节层深度），以及 有机会估计古生代大气pCO 2和测试 全球大气CO2浓度模型 古生代

This is a collaborative research between C.I. Mora and S.G. Driese (University of Tennessee; lead institution) and D.E. Fastovsky (University of Rhode Island) to support ongoing research on aspects of Paleozoic paleoclimates that are reflected in vertic-featured paleosols preserved in the central and southern Appalachian sedimentary sequence. The study takes advantage of the wide spatial and temporal distribution and climatic-dependency of these paleosols, as well as their amenability to stable isotopic analysis. Morphology, geochemistry, and stable isotopic compositions of the vertic paleosols form the database of the study. Vertic-featured paleosols are exposed in six states, representing fluvial and marginal-marine environments from the Ordovician through the Permian. Because vertic paleosols are, by comparison with other paleosol type, diagnostic of specific climatic variables such as annual wet/dry cyclicity and subtropical to tropical conditions, these paleosols are ideal subjects for the reconstruction of paleoclimatic variables. Moreover, the common occurrence of pedogenic carbonate permits the estimation of annual rainfall (based upon nodular horizon depth), as well as the opportunity to estimate Paleozoic atmospheric pCO2 and to tests of models of global atmospheric CO2 concentrations throughout most of the Paleozoic Era.