Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy and Carbonate Sedimentology of the Latest Permian to Early Triassic in the Western United States, Northern Iran and Southern China
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Strontium isotope stratigraphy and carbonate sedimentology of the latest Permian to Early Triassic in the western United States, northern Iran and southern China DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alexa Ruth Clements Sedlacek Graduate Program in Geological Sciences The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Matthew R. Saltzman, Advisor William I. Ausich Stig M. Bergström David H. Elliot Copyright by Alexa Ruth Clements Sedlacek 2013 Abstract Environmental perturbations associated with the late-Permian mass extinction and Early Triassic recovery are widely studied, and our understanding of global events during this biotic crisis continues to improve. Marine carbonates preserve geochemical proxy records of global change, including a rapid rise in seawater 87Sr/86Sr that began the near Guadalupian-Lopingian (Middle-Late Permian) boundary and continued through the end of the Early Triassic. Linking the increase in 87Sr/86Sr to enhanced weathering rates that resulted from environmental disturbances and terrestrial extinction during the latest Permian is inconsistent with the onset of the 87Sr/86Sr rise approximately 10 million years earlier at the end of the Middle Permian. However, several recent studies indicate that the rate of 87Sr/86Sr rise increased during the late Permian, and this rise may be the result of enhanced weathering rates during the extinction and recovery interval. This study improves the resolution of the seawater 87Sr/86Sr record of the late Permian through Early Triassic through analyses of whole rock samples collected from Zal, Iran and Dawen, South China. The carbonate succession at Zal, Iran preserves the entire Early Triassic and was previously analyzed for δ13C. Analyses of Sr isotopes at a resolution similar to the δ13C record enables direct comparison between these two ii records, and also allows for determinations in the changes in rate of strontium rise. The Permian-Triassic boundary interval was sampled at higher resolution by analyzing rocks from a biostratigraphically constrained sections deposited at Dawen on the Great Bank of Guizhou, South China. These results indicate that the rate of strontium rise increased during the latest Permian, possibly as a result of elevated weathering rates during the post-extinction interval. The final chapter of this dissertation examines marine carbonates from the Confusion Range, Utah, recently shown to represent relatively continuous deposition across the Permian-Triassic boundary. The proposed boundary interval consists of several distinctive lithologies which are similar in many regards to some Tethyan sections that contain microbially mediated carbonates of earliest Triassic age. Although microbial characteristics are found within the boundary interval of the Confusion Range section, future petrographic and chronostratigraphic studies are needed to determine if this microbial carbonate was deposited as part of a global event or simply reflect the local depositional environment. iii This dissertation is dedicated to Marlene E. Weaver iv Acknowledgments I am sincerely grateful to my advisor, Matthew Saltzman, for his intellectual guidance and patience. I thank him and my committee members, Bill Ausich, Stig Bergström and David Elliot for their support through hours of helpful discussion. I am grateful to Jim Collinson for his guidance in the field and to Ken Foland for discussing the various merits and limitations of strontium isotope stratigraphy. I am deeply grateful to Paul Garvin and Rhawn Denniston, who inspired my interest in geology and encouraged me to pursue graduate school. The Geological Society of America’s student research grant program and the Friends of Orton Hall Fund supported my research. The laboratory work that it required would not have been possible without the support and mentorship of Jeff Linder, who educated me in all things related to the clean lab and mass spectrometer. I am also grateful to Angie Rogers and Susie Shipley, who moved administrative mountains to accommodate my needs. I owe sincere gratitude to my peers at OSU, particularly Amanda Howard, Soo Yeun Ahn, and Christina O’Malley for their constant support and encouragement. My parents, Janet Weaver and Laurence Clements, and my grandmother Marlene Weaver enabled me to finish what I started. Finally I owe my deepest appreciation to Patrick, who unfailingly supports and encourages me to pursue my goals, and to our daughter, for v being such a good sleeper. Her recent transformation from baby to toddler provided the final incentive for me to complete this work. vi Vita July 4, 1984 ....................................................Born-Nottingham, U.K. 2005................................................................B.A. Geology, Religion, Cornell College 2007-2008 ......................................................Graduate Fellow, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University 2009-2010 ......................................................Graduate Research Assistant, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University 2008-2013 ......................................................Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University Publications Saltzman, M.R., and Sedlacek, A.R.C, 2013, Chemostratigraphy indicates a relatively complete Late Permian to Early Triassic sequence in the western United States: Geology, v. 41, p. 399-402. Abstracts Sedlacek, A.R.C., Saltzman, M.R., Algeo, T.J., Horacek, M., Richoz, S., Brandner, R., and Foland, K., 2012, Coupled C and Sr isotope stratigraphy of the Early Triassic of Zal, Iran: A record of increased weathering. Geological Society of America Abstracts with vii Programs, vol., 44, p. 62. Trigg, C., Saltzman, M.R., Carlucci, J.R., Westrop, S.R., Leslie, S.A., Young, S.A., Bergstrom, S.M., Sedlacek, A.R.C., and Edwards, C.T., 2012, Positive carbon isotope shift in the Middle to Late Ordovician: No link with sea level? Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol., 44, p. 237. Sedlacek, A.R.C., Saltzman, M.R., Algeo, T. J., Horacek, M., Foland, K., Linder, J.S., Howard, A., Sedlak, C., and Walters, A.P., 2011, Strontium isotope stratigraphy from the Late Permian to Early Triassic of Zal, Iran. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 43, p. 603. Sedlacek, A.R.C. and Saltzman, M.R., 2010, Evidence for an Earliest Triassic Microbialite from the Confusion Range, UT. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 42, p. 132. Howard, A., Saltzman, M.R., Sedlacek, A.R.C., Sedlak, C., Foland, K., Linder, J.S., Leslie, S.A., and Young, S.A., 2010, Strontium and neodymium isotope stratigraphy of the middle Ordovician and weathering of the Appalachian Mountains. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 42, p. 466. viii Sedlacek, A.R.C. and Saltzman, M.R., 2009, The Permian-Triassic transition in the Great Basin (Confusion Range-Spruce Mountain composite): Age constraints based on a continuous carbon isotope record, strontium isotopes, and sequence stratigraphy. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, vol. 41, p. 360. Sedlacek, A.R., Saltzman, M.R., and Linder, J., 2008, Strontium isotope stratigraphy of the Permian-Triassic Boundary interval in the Great Basin, USA: How much of a record is preserved? Geological Society of America Abstract with Programs, v. 40, p. 265. Fields of Study Major Field: Geological Sciences ix Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xv List of Figures ................................................................................................................. xvii Chapter 1: Coupled carbon and strontium isotope stratigraphy from the late Permian to the Early Triassic of Zal, Iran: A record of increased weathering ...................................... 1 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 2 Background ..................................................................................................................... 3 Seawater 87Sr/86Sr ........................................................................................................ 3 Paleogeography ........................................................................................................... 4 Methods and Results ....................................................................................................... 5 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 6 x Diagenetic Alteration ................................................................................................... 6 Early Triassic Time Scale ...........................................................................................