UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE AN INTEGRATED SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL STUDY TO TEST THE POSSIBLE LINKS BETWEEN LATE PALEOZOIC CLIMATE CHANGE, ATMOSPHERIC DUST INFLUX AND PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY IN THE HORSESHOE ATOLL, WEST TEXAS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By SOHINI SUR Norman, Oklahoma 2009 AN INTEGRATED SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL STUDY TO TEST THE POSSIBLE LINKS BETWEEN LATE PALEOZOIC CLIMATE CHANGE, ATMOSPHERIC DUST INFLUX AND PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY IN THE HORSESHOE ATOLL, WEST TEXAS A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS BY Dr. Gerilyn S. Soreghan, Chair Dr. Michael J. Soreghan Dr. Richard D. Elmore Dr. Susan E. Postawko Dr. Arthur H. Saller Dr. Timothy W. Lyons © Copyright by SOHINI SUR 2009 All Rights Reserved. Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my lovely parents and to my dear husband Acknowledgements I am extremely thankful to my advisor Lynn Soreghan for her advice, guidance, endless support and encouragements throughout this process. I am equally grateful to Mike Soreghan for his time and valuable guidance in every aspect of my work. My heartiest thank to both Lynn Soreghan and Mike Soreghan to grow my interest in this subject matter. I also like to thank my committee members Richard D. Elmore, Art H. Saller, Timothy W. Lyons and Susan E. Postawko for their help, suggestions and review of my dissertation. My sincere thank to Art H. Saller, G. Hinterlong, A. Auffant, S. Randall for help in core access and sampling. A special thank to Timothy Lyons for allowing me to use their laboratory facility and stay with his lovely family during my visit in University of California, Riverside. I am grateful to Wan Yang for his time, valuable discussions, guidance and review of spectral analyses. Many thank to Brooks B. Ellwood for allowing me to use his laboratory facility (for magnetic susceptibility measurement) in Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. I also like to sincerely thank Paul Philp, Juergen Schieber, Paul Wright, Paul Knauth, Troy Rasbury, Vladimir Davydov and Andy Madden for their help and valuable discussions. I really appreciate analytical help by George Morgan, Preston Larson, Ron Conlon, Clint Scott, Steve Bates, Robert Turner and Rick Maynard. I also like to thank my laboratory mates Sabata Pereira, Kristen Marra, Dustin Sweet, Alice Stagner, Vanessa Harvey and Alisan Templet for their analytical help and keeping a nice friendly environment in the laboratory. Special thank to Alice Stagner for her contribution in chapter 1 about Arrow Canyon. iv I am indebted to the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman for financial support and providing me the opportunity to travel to professional meetings. I like to show my sincere gratitude to Shell Oil Company for a fellowship during my study and to American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Geological Society of America and the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) Rocky Mountain Section (Donald L. Smith grant) for student research grant. Other financial assistance was provided by Chevron (USA) and grants from the American Chemical Society of Petroleum Fund and the National Science Foundation to Dr. Lynn Soreghan. On a personal note, a special thank to my undergraduate advisor Santanu Banerjee and my senior Supriyo Mitra to encourage me for higher studies. I would like to thank my family and many friends (Tanima, Kausik, Subho, Kajari, Rumela, Shamik, Nabanita, Suprotik, Debu, Vishakha, Rahul and Andrea) for their support throughout this journey. My heartiest thank to my mom, dad and my sister who has supported in all the endeavors of my life. Special thank to my little nephew Ruhin who brought tremendous joy to my life. Last but not the least a very special thanks to Prasenjit, my husband and best friend, for his love, support and endless patience to this long journey of learning. Without him this would not have been possible. v Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 ..................................................................................................................................................1 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................1 METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................................................................3 APPLICATION...............................................................................................................................................8 Example 1: Application to an isolated carbonate buildup.....................................................................8 Example 2: Application to a pericratonic, mid-ramp setting.................................................................9 DISCUSSION ...............................................................................................................................................10 CONCLUSIONS ...........................................................................................................................................12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................................................13 FIGURE CAPTIONS .....................................................................................................................................13 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................23 ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................23 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................24 GEOLOGICAL SETTING...............................................................................................................................26 METHODS..................................................................................................................................................28 DEPOSITIONAL FACIES...............................................................................................................................29 SEQUENCE- AND CYCLO- STRATIGRAPHY ..................................................................................................32 SEDIMENTOLOGY OF THE SILICATE MINERAL FRACTION (SMF) ................................................................34 SMF in the dark mudrock facies .........................................................................................................34 SMF in the carbonate facies ................................................................................................................35 STRATIGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE SMF.............................................................................................36 GEOCHEMISTRY AND PROVENANCE OF THE SMF ......................................................................................37 SPECTRAL ANALYSES AND PERIODICITIES OF THE SMF.............................................................................40 ORIGIN OF THE SMF..................................................................................................................................46 Origin of the sequence- bounding mudrock.........................................................................................46 Origin of the SMF in the carbonate.....................................................................................................47 PROVENANCE OF DUST AND WIND DIRECTION ...........................................................................................51 TIMING OF DUST INFLUX AND RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE .................................................................53 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................56 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................................................57 FIGURE CAPTIONS .....................................................................................................................................57 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................62