Determining the Role of Climate Change in the Stratigraphy of Pennsylvanian Age Rocks (2014)
Undergraduates: Ronald Lipscomb, N/A N/A N/A N/A
Faculty Advisor: Lou Bartek
Department: Geology
Cyclic variations in global climate can impact the stratigraphic record by: (1) causing expansions and contractions in ice sheet volume, which in turn cause cyclic variations in global sea level (eustasy) (2) causing cyclic changes in the width and position of Earth¿s climate belts. The cyclic changes in the width and position of climate belts triggered changes in precipitation rates which lead to cyclic variations in sediment supply/discharge in the drainage basins of terrestrial fluvial systems. . The experiment is completed by comparing the synthetic stratigraphic sections to the stratigraphic record measured in the field in an area of southeastern Kentucky that contains Pennsylvanian age strata. The goodness of fit of the synthetic stratigraphic sections to the measured stratigraphic sections will reveal which sets of conditions were responsible for influencing deposition in the Appalachian Basin during the Pennsylvanian Period. Results should yield insight into Earth¿s response to the last time that global climate made the transition from ice house conditions, similar to modern times, to the green house conditions of the future.