If you are organizing a meeting or chairing a session in a conference that you think would be of interest to this community, please email Lynn Soreghan .

Late Paleozoic Glacial-Interglacial Climate Changes: Analogs for Present and Future Climate Changes?

Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

Denver, Colorado

October 28-31, 2007

Conveners: Michael Pope, Washington State University, Gerilyn Soreghan, University of Oklahoma; Isabel Montañez, University of California, Davis

Abstract Deadline: July 10, 2007

To view the abstracts for the talk click here

To view the abstract for the poster session click here

Synopsis: Late Paleozoic Glacial-Interglacial Climate Changes: Analogs for Present and Future Climate Changes?
Over the past decade our view of Late Paleozoic climate change has altered substantially as higher-resolution records of glacial-interglacial climate shifts become available.  Where most of these transitions were once considered to be long-term and gradual, we now think many of these climate shifts were very rapid.  Concurrently, the well-documented rise in Modern atmospheric CO2 values to levels not seen in the last 30-40 Ma suggests that geoscientists trying to understand present and future climatic fluctuations may need to look at other periods in earth’s history for clues to decipher these changes. The late Paleozoic is particularly apt in this regard, because it records the last time the Earth veered from icehouse to greenhouse conditions, potentially forced by changes in atmospheric CO2. We seek to assemble a multi-disciplinary theme session that will provide a forum for the sharing and possible integration of Late Paleozoic climate change information and take a hard look at what these data may signify about potential present and future climatic fluctuations.

International Congress on Carboniferous and Permian

Nanjing, China www.iccp2007.cn .

June 21-24 , 2007

Conveners: Rich Lane and Guang R. Shi

Abstract Deadline: April 15, 2007
The second circular of the meeting can be found at http://www.iccp2007.cn/admin/down/upload/20070307155501.pdf

Synopsis: ‘Evolutionary Palaeogeography and Palaeoclimatology; Pangea formation and breakup'

We are seeking participants willing to present a talk on Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and/or Permian paleoclimatology or paleogeography and their interplay. A series of talks that document the progression of Earth systems through the Carboniferous and Permian would be most welcome. If you are interested and if you or a co-author will be able to attend the meeting and present a paper, please submit an abstract soon.  Nanjing and China in general is a very exciting city and country to visit these days and there is an exciting array of field trips planned. 

Deep Time Climates: Their Relevance to Climate Change and Value to Petroleum Exploration (SEPM/AAPG)

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting

Long Beach, California, USA

April 21-24 , 2007

Conveners:  Martin Perlmutter, Chevron, 1500 Louisiana, Houston, TX, 77002, 832-854-6998, mperlmutter@chevron.com; H. Rich Lane, Directorate for Geosciences, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230, (703) 292-8551, hlane@nsf.gov; John M. Armentrout, Cascade Stratigraphics, Inc., Clackamas, OR 97015, 503-658-8797, jarmenrock@msn.com.

Synopsis: Deep Time Climates: Their Relevance to Climate Change and Value to Petroleum Exploration

The geologic record gives us the means to understand natural climate variability, providing context and perspective for present and future climate changes. We examine climate change from the context of deep time. What were the timescales of the change, how widespread and persistent was the change, what did it look like, and what caused it?

The following are the submitted and accepted talks:

1. Barron, E., University of Texas: Is It Time for a Rebirth in The Geologic Application of Climate Models?
2. Sohl, L., WHOI: Deep Time Paleoclimate Modeling and Natural Resource Exploration: Status and Future Challenges
3. Moore, T., PaleoTerra Inc.: Using Climate Model Experiments of Orbital Cycles to Understand Stratigraphic Variability
4. Soreghan, L., Univ. Oklahoma: Ice and High-Magnitude Climate Change in Equatorial Pangaea
5. Harris, J., Fugro-Robertson Ltd.: Palaeogeography and Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Palaeo-Earth Systems Modelling: Application for the Prediction of Reservoir Facies in Frontier Basins
6. Kennedy, M., U. Cal. Riverside: Methane Clathrate Destabilization in Equatorial Tidalites During Deglaciation
7. Snyder, W., Boise State: Paleozoic-Mesozoic Chronostratigraphic Framework for Deep-time Paleoclimate Research
8. Algeo, T., Univ. Cincinnati: High-Frequency Paleoclimate Variation: Analysis, Interpretation, and Significance
9. Olsen, P., Lamont-Dougherty:Tempo and modes of climate variability: perspectives from deep-time rift basins
10. Lane, H., NSF: Deep Time: A Frontier for Paleoclimate Research

The following are submitted and accepted posters:

1.Dubue-Botero, F., Chevron:Cyclic sedimentation from the Cenomanian/Turonian of NE Mexico: its relationship to Milankovitch and solar cycles

2. Nebrigic, D., Univ. Texas Dallas:  Storm Events in Geological Record - a Lecture from 92 MYA

3. Fielding, C., Univ. Nebraska:  Stratigraphic Signatures of Icehouse Climate Regimes: The Permian Record of Eastern Australia

4. Hasiotis, S., Univ. Kansas: Continental Ichnofossils as Climate-Indicator Proxies in Deep Geologic Time: Integrating Ichnology and paleopedology to Access Changes in Paleohydrology and Paleoclimate

5. Snyder, W., Boise State: The Politics of Paleoclimate data

6. Sur, S., Univ. Oklahoma (Student), Atmospheric Dust…    
7. Le Guerroue, E., U. Cal Riverside (Student) : Neoproterozic Carbon Isotopes… 
8. Schroeder, E., Univ. Nebraska, (Student): Mid-Maastrichian Benthic Foraminiferal… 
9. Pope, M., Washington State: Global Climate Change in the Paleozoic.... Late Ordovician, Late Devonian and Carboniferous-Permian
10. Filho, N., Petrobras: Application of Climatic Changes to ..... Paleozoic to Quaternary

Geosystems: Climate Lessons from Earth’s Last Great Icehouse

Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

San Francisco, California, USA

February, 2007

Organizers: G.S. (Lynn) Soreghan, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Isabel P. Montañez, University of California, Davis, CA

Moderator & Discussant: Lee Kump, Pennsylvania State University

Synopsis: Throughout its history, Earth has fluctuated numerous times from major episodes of glaciation (icehouse climates) into warmer ice-free conditions (greenhouse climates) and vice-versa. Currently, Earth is moving from the Pleistocene icehouse climate toward possible future greenhouse conditions. This is attributed to anthropogenic activities (fossil fuel emissions, deforestation) causing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The icehouse-greenhouse climate transition that preceded the modern transition occurred 330 to 270 million years ago during the Late Paleozoic-Gondwanan Ice Age (LPGIA). It is the only other ‘vegetated-Earth’ example of climate change in an icehouse, making it the nearest analogue to Earth’s current state. It is also the only example of an icehouse-greenhouse transition that records the impact of major climate change on ecosystems of the land and seas.

Speakers:

“Reconciling timing, duration and character of late Paleozoic glaciations” by Chris Fielding (University of Nebraska). The LPGIA deposits of Australia and Antarctica suggest that multiple ice centers were active during discrete intervals, indicating long-term climatic variation in this southern hemisphere icehouse. The style of glaciation during the LPGIA is the same as the most recent one.  Clearly, the LPGIA represents a deep-time laboratory that can lead to a better understanding of modern climate instability.
 
“Sea level, sea temperatures, and glaciation: Lessons from the mid-continent” by Timothy Lyons (University of Riverside). New oxygen isotope methods developed using biogenic apatite confirm that the classic Carboniferous-era cycles of the northern hemisphere that produced the widespread, rich coal beds through sea level changes was driven by waxing and waning southern hemisphere (LPGIA) glaciers.

“Ice, dust and climate in the late Paleozoic tropics” by G.S. (Lynn) Soreghan (University of Oklahoma). Emerging studies of the record of dust in the paleotropics provide new insights into low-latitude climate behavior during the LPGIA icehouse, including the possibility of high-magnitude climate change on the glacial-interglacial scale.

“Climate dynamics of the late Paleozoic icehouse-greenhouse transition” by Chris Poulsen (University of Michigan). Development of an ocean-atmosphere-ice sheet model to investigate the influence of Gondwanan glaciation on the Late Paleozoic tropics indicates that the LPGIA disrupted the Southern Hemisphere monsoon system, causing large changes in moisture transport to the tropics.

“Unabating CO2 and temperature increase during Paleozoic global deglaciation” by Isabel Montanez (University of California, Davis). Comparing the glaciation history with estimated atmospheric pCO2 and tropical temperatures documents a robust CO2-climate-glaciation link with climate variability consistent with greenhouse gas forcing.  These paleoclimate and CO2 oscillations illustrate the magnitude of climate instability associated with past CO2-forced turnover to a permanent ice-free world.

“Vegetation tracks climate change during the late Paleozoic icehouse collapse” by William DiMichele (Smithsonian Institute). The change from a cool- to a warm-Earth during the late Paleozoic involved widespread changes in terrestrial climate that were strongly mirrored by changing vegetational patterns. Multiple biomes coexisted in the western and central equatorial regions beginning in the Early Carboniferous, but the later Carboniferous was characterized by lowland biomes typical of only the wettest climatic conditions. Wet floras persisted in the east well into the Permian.