FAR-FIELD IMPRINT OF THE LATE PALEOZOIC ICE AGE ACROSS THE EASTERN SHELF OF THE PERMIAN BASIN, TEXAS

The late Paleozoic is a period of pronounced climatic and tectonic change, characterized by the onset and disappearance of icesheets across the high-latitude regions of Gondwana, the collision of Gondwana and Laurentia within the equatorial tropics, and widespread large igneous province volcanism. Across the Phanerozoic, the equatorial tropics were assumed to experience persistent warm and wet climatic conditions, which through intense silicate weathering, exert a major influence on Earth’s climate via regulation of atmospheric CO₂ through carbonic hydrolytic weathering, formation of clay minerals and deliverability of alkalinity to ocean basins. The greater Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico was situated within the equatorial tropics throughout the late Paleozoic and connected to the open ocean via a series of fluvial systems which drained through the region and into the marine Midland Basin. The Permian Basin is therefore an ideal location for testing the climatic and provenance history of the late Paleozoic tropics. We present new U-Pb detrital and sedimentary petrography datasets from across the Eastern Shelf of the Permian Basin, spanning the late Carboniferous through end Permian, which we integrate with previously published paleobotany, paleosol chemistry and clay mineralogy to provide a holistic climate and tectonic record from this region. We observe major changes in sedimentary processes that we attribute to the formation of Pangea, eustatic changes linked to a dynamic high-latitude glaciation and teleconnections with low latitude hydrology, and a long-term shift in the Earth climate system all of which result in a dynamic sediment provenance history. Our data suggest initiation of a substantial component of aeolian deposition across the field area, which is coincident with widespread ice loss across high latitude Gondwana, and ultimately highlights the teleconnections between high latitude glaciation and the low latitude hydrologic cycle.