EOSC 116 Chapter Notes - Chapter D: Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, Deccan Traps, Tethys Ocean
Document Summary
Thursday, october 22, 2015. Climate over the last 2 billion years. More hot house than ice house periods during mesozoic. Triassic to late jurassic. Pangaea straddling the equator. Interior of the supercontinent very arid. Hot desert sandstones very common. Continents (pangaea) fairly high elevations and sea level fairly stable. Results - > very few shallow inland continental seas. Pangaea summers were hot and dry with warm conditions. Because there were very few oceans. Oceanic effect - > helps cool and moisten continental areas. Overall: both arid dune environments with some river and lake habitats with gymnosperm forests. Three broadly define climatic belts. An equatorial year- round dry belt. A zone north and south of this dry belt with strongly seasonal rainfall. More humid higher latitude belts. Evidence: coal- rich sequences + large amphibians fossil + fossils that prefer wet shady areas. Climate = hot arid/seasonal conditions. However getting a little more moist.