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. 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.
Introduction: Allocyclic Controls on Middle Pennsylvanian Sedimentation in Cratonic Depositional Systems (U.S.A.)
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Published:January 01, 2003
Abstract
Research on cyclic sedimentation in the Pennsylvanian System of the United States began with Udden (1912), who delineated cyclic patterns in Pennsylvanian strata in the Eastern Interior Basin (Illinois, U.S.A.). Udden described a stratigraphic succession associated with four upper Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian Stage) coal beds in western Illinois where similar lithologic sequences were repeated above each coal bed. The stratigraphic succession, as described by Udden, consists of the following lithologies: