The Ordovician: a Window Toward Understanding Abundance
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THE ORDOVICIAN: A WINDOW TOWARD UNDERSTANDING ABUNDANCE AND MIGRATION PATTERNS OF BIOGENIC CHERT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOCLIMATE A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science Iulia Tomescu August 2004 © 2004 Iulia Tomescu All Rights Reserved This thesis entitled THE ORDOVICIAN: A WINDOW TOWARD UNDERSTANDING ABUNDANCE AND MIGRATION PATTERNS OF BIOGENIC CHERT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOCLIMATE BY IULIA TOMESCU has been approved for the Department of Geological Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences by David L. Kidder Associate Professor of Geological Sciences Leslie A. Flemming Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TOMESCU, IULIA. M.S. August 2004. Geological Sciences The Ordovician: a window toward understanding abundance and migration patterns of biogenic chert and implications for paleoclimate (228 pp.) Director of Thesis: David L. Kidder The comprehensive global survey of Ordovician chert deposits undertaken in this study reveals that most of them are biogenic, and documents significant paleoceanographic relationships. Peritidal/lagoonal and shelf cherts hosted mainly by carbonate facies are nodular, and formed predominantly by lithistid demosponges. Slope/basinal cherts are bedded, hosted by siliciclastic sediments, and bear radiolarians. Lower Ordovician cherts are abundant in all settings. The Middle Ordovician shows a decrease in cherts characterized by a strong decline in silica burial within peritidal/lagoonal and shelf environments. The distribution of silica secreting biotas suggests an Arenigian- Llanvirnian onshore-offshore migration whereby siliceous sponges migrate from peritidal/lagoonal to shelf-basinal environments, and radiolarians move to basinal settings. The Caradocian marks the highest peak in the abundance of Ordovician cherts, in both shelf and slope/basinal environments, that appears to correlate with a warming interval. A decline of cherts takes place in the Ashgillian, when glaciation was in effect. Approved: David L. Kidder Professor of Geological Sciences Acknowledgments My sincere thanks go to Dr. David Kidder, my mentor. He introduced me to the silica system and all its biotic and abiotic components. During our long discussions he kindly guided me through the maze of the Ordovician Earth system and Paleozoic silica- secreting organisms. I am very grateful for having had the chance to work with him. I would also like to thank Drs. Thomas Worsley and Gregory Nadon. Dr. Worsley opened the world of Earth system evolution to me. His broad-picture integrative models were a constant source of inspiration, and his feed-back greatly encouraged me in my scholarly pursuits. Dr. Nadon was always available for discussions and interactions with him sharpened my critical thinking. 6 Table of Contents Page Abstract................................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................5 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................8 List of Figures......................................................................................................................9 Chapter 1. Significance of the study..................................................................................11 Chapter 2. Hypotheses of the study ...................................................................................13 Chapter 3. Assumptions of the study .................................................................................17 Chapter 4. Previous work...................................................................................................19 Chapter 5. Bedded versus nodular cherts...........................................................................27 5.1 What is chert? ..................................................................................................27 5.2 Chert formation................................................................................................30 5.3 Chert deposit types: characteristics and genesis theories ................................32 5.4 Time and temperature of certification and depth of formation........................40 Chapter 6. Methodology ....................................................................................................42 6.1 Data acquisition ...............................................................................................42 6.2 Data management.............................................................................................43 6.3 Data structure...................................................................................................43 6.4 Data manipulation............................................................................................45 6.5 Pitfalls/Problems of a study compiling data from published reports...............54 6.6 The usefulness of a study compiling data from published reports...................57 Chapter 7. Results ..............................................................................................................58 7.1 Epoch - level temporal trend in the chert abundance.......................................58 7.2 Epoch - level temporal trend in chert types .....................................................60 7.3 The spatio-temporal distribution of chert occurrences ....................................63 7.4 Chert type - depositional environment relationship over time.........................77 7.5 The temporal and spatial distribution of the Ordovician silica secreting organisms present in chert deposits .......................................................................78 7.6 Testing the significance of associations between the type of siliceous skeletal remains, chert deposit styles, and depositional environments..................82 7.7 Evaluation of the efficiency of the method......................................................83 7 Table of Contents: continued. Page Chapter 8. The Lower Paleozoic silica secreting organisms: radiolarians and siliceous sponges.............................................................................................91 8.1 Radiolarians .....................................................................................................91 8.2 Siliceous sponges...........................................................................................101 Chapter 9. The origin of the Ordovician cherts - organic versus inorganic genesis........111 9.1 Previous theories on chert origin ...................................................................111 9.2 Evidence of the present study ........................................................................116 9.3 Silica burial: a balance between silica dissolution and preservation rates.....122 Chapter 10. Discussion: the Ordovician silica secreting biotas - living style, distribution and onshore-offshore evolution patterns ....................................127 10.1 Lower Ordovician ........................................................................................127 10.2 Middle Ordovician.......................................................................................136 10.3 Upper Ordovician.........................................................................................141 Chapter 11. Interpreting the chert abundance patterns: why chert peaks or lows?..........143 11.1 Lower Ordovician: a greenhouse interval....................................................143 11.2 Middle Ordovician: a greenhouse interval...................................................155 11.3 Upper Ordovician: the Caradocian - a warm - cool transitional, ice free mode (?) ..................................................................................................160 11.4 Upper Ordovician: the Ashgillian - an icehouse period...............................173 Chapter 12. Conclusions ..................................................................................................182 References........................................................................................................................187 Appendix .........................................................................................................................220 8 List of Tables Table ..............................................................................................................................Page 7.1 Temporal distribution of the chert deposits at epoch and age/stage level. ..................59 7.2 Temporal distribution of the chert deposit types at epoch (A) and stage (B) level. ....61 7.3 Temporal (A epoch level; B stage level) and spatial (Onshore – Offshore) distribution of the chert deposits....................................................................................... 64 7.4 Distribution of the chert deposit types by epoch and depositional environment.........72 7.5 Temporal trends in the paleolatitudinal distribution of Ordovician silica burial.........75 7.6 Temporal and geographical distribution of chert deposits...........................................76 7.7 Temporal distribution of Ordovician silicified oolites.................................................76 7.8 Epoch level distribution of chert deposits with siliceous skeletal remains..................79