Pluvial Events Research Articles

The Carnian Humid Episode of the late Triassic: a review

AbstractFrom 1989 to 1994 a series of papers outlined evidence for a brief episode of climate change from arid to humid, and then back to arid, during the Carnian Stage of the late Triassic Epoch. This time of climate change was compared to marine and terrestrial biotic changes, mainly extinction and then radiation of flora and fauna. Subsequently termed, albeit incorrectly, the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) by successive authors, interest in this episode of climatic change has increased steadily, with new evidence being published as well as several challenges to the theory. The exact nature of this humid episode, whether reflecting widespread precipitation or more local effects, as well as its ultimate cause, remains equivocal. Bed-by-bed sampling of the Carnian in the Southern Alps (Dolomites) shows the episode began with a negative carbon isotope excursion that lasted for only part of one ammonoid zone (A. austriacum). However, that the Carnian Humid Episode represents a significantly longer period, both environmentally and biotically, is irrefutable. The evidence is strongest in the European, Middle Eastern, Himalayan, North American and Japanese successions, but not always so clear in South America, Antarctica and Australia. The eruption of the Wrangellia Large Igneous Province and global warming (causing increased evaporation in the Tethyan and Panthalassic oceans) are suggested as causes for the humid episode.

Cycle-calibrated magnetostratigraphy of middle Carnian from South China: Implications for Late Triassic time scale and termination of the Yangtze Platform

Abstract Thick successions from the margins of the Triassic Yangtze Platform of the South China Block record a transition from carbonate-rich facies (Zhuganpo Formation and equivalents) to clastic-rich facies (Xiaowa Formation and equivalents) during the Carnian (early Late Triassic) that mark the final phase of termination of this long-lived platform. Cyclostratigraphy derived from spectral gamma-ray (SGR) intensity curves was combined with magnetostratigraphy of two sections in Guizhou Province (Wayao transect and its upward extension into the Geopark Wayao in Guanling county and the Laishike section in Zhenfeng county) and one location in Sichuan Province (Hanwang section). The cyclostratigraphy from all the Guizhou sections indicates a persistent suite of ca. 34 m, 9 m and 1.8 m cycles, which are consistent with the ratios of orbital-climate oscillations caused by long-eccentricity (405 kyr), short-eccentricity (~ 100 kyr) and precession (20 kyr). The magnetostratigraphy of all sections is consistent with the cyclicity and characteristic SGR features, thereby enabling a cycle-tuned magnetic polarity scale spanning ~ 2.4 myr. The main feature is a 1.3-myr interval of reversed polarity containing brief normal-polarity subchrons, and this reversed-polarity chron appears to correspond to the significant reversed-polarity-dominated interval spanning the upper half of the Trachyceras aonoides through the lower half of the Austrotrachyceras austriacum ammonoid zones of the upper Julian (the lower substage of Carnian). This magnetostratigraphic correlation implies that the termination of the Yangtze Platform is coeval with the beginning of the mid-Carnian episode of climatic disruption in Europe, which is locally called the “Carnian Pluvial Event” or “Wet Intermezzo”, and with the temporary cessation of the platform carbonates in the Dolomites. The cycle-scaled magnetic-polarity time scale supports the “Short-Tuvalian/Long-Norian” age model of the Late Triassic in which the base of the cycle-tuned polarity pattern from the Newark Group of eastern North America is younger than the end of the Julian substage.

Drowning of the Triassic Yangtze Platform, South China, By Tectonic Subsidence Into Toxic Deep Waters of An Anoxic Basin

Abstract The Yangtze Platform drowned and was buried by pelagic facies and siliciclastic turbidites in western Guizhou Province during the Late Triassic, Carnian. The uppermost platform facies of the Ladinian Yangliujing Fm. consists of peritidal cyclic carbonate. Ladinian margin facies of the Longtou Fm. consist of grainstone and lenses of coral–Tubiphytes algal boundstone indicating high-energy shoals and patch reefs. The drowning horizon is laterally variable; it is either a sharp surface or a gradational shift to dark, nodular-bedded lime mudstone and wackestone of the Zhuganpo Fm. The contact lacks phosphatized or glauconitized hardgrounds that would indicate drowning by excess nutrient flux. Uppermost platform carbonates have a tropical photozoan biota and lack siliciclastic content indicating neither climate cooling nor siliciclastic flux played a role in drowning. The Zhuganpo Fm. contains a dominantly pelagic biota of ammonoids, planktonic bivalves, pseudoplanktonic crinoids, conodonts, and the marine reptile Keichousaurus. Rare bioturbation and benthic biota in the lower part indicate dysoxic conditions with an upward shift to anoxic conditions. The overlying Wayao Fm. is a pyritic, laminated, black argillaceous lime mudstone that grades to black shale with an exclusively pelagic fauna and marine reptile lagerstattes indicating anoxic deep-marine sedimentation. Syndepositional faults played a significant role in the evolution of the western sector of the Yangtze Platform and controlled three local, backstepped accommodation cycles in the Zhenfeng area. Faults that developed during the last accommodation cycle tip out at the drowning horizon and include a flower structure upon which a pinnacle reef developed while the rest of the platform drowned. Lateral variability in the drowning horizon and thickness of the post-drowning pelagic facies suggest that differential tectonic subsidence caused the platform to sink into deep water along faults. Magnetic susceptibility and paleomagnetic-reversal correlations demonstrate that the western sector of the platform drowned while shallow-marine, mixed carbonate siliciclastic sedimentation continued in the eastern sector which later terminated in shallow water by increasing siliciclastic flux. Starved black shale horizons in the basin indicate recurrent bottom-water anoxia. Elevated trace-metal concentrations in the pelagic facies of the Zhuganpo and Wayao formations indicate dysoxic to anoxic conditions and enhanced preservation of organic matter. Tectonic subsidence likely submerged the western sector into deep, toxic waters of the basin, killing benthic carbonate production. Previous studies have implicated the Carnian pluvial event as a cause of drowning of the Yangtze Platform and the shift to siliciclastic turbidites of the Laishike Fm., but the Yangtze Platform drowned earlier than western Tethys platforms and siliciclastics were already rapidly infilling the basin in the Anisian and Ladinian, indicating that the events are probably unrelated. Siliciclastics of the Laishike Fm. that overlapped and buried the platform only after the basin was filled are better interpreted as a response to tectonics than to a shift in climate.

Comparison of satellite-derived LAI and precipitation anomalies over Brazil with a thermal infrared-based Evaporative Stress Index for 2003–2013

Summary Shortwave vegetation index (VI) and leaf area index (LAI) remote sensing products yield inconsistent depictions of biophysical response to drought and pluvial events that have occurred in Brazil over the past decade. Conflicting reports of severity of drought impacts on vegetation health and functioning have been attributed to cloud and aerosol contamination of shortwave reflectance composites, particularly over the rainforested regions of the Amazon basin which are subject to prolonged periods of cloud cover and episodes of intense biomass burning. This study compares timeseries of satellite-derived maps of LAI from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and precipitation from the Tropical Rainfall Mapping Mission (TRMM) with a diagnostic Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) retrieved using thermal infrared remote sensing over South America for the period 2003–2013. This period includes several severe droughts and floods that occurred both over the Amazon and over unforested savanna and agricultural areas in Brazil. Cross-correlations between absolute values and standardized anomalies in monthly LAI and precipitation composites as well as the actual-to-reference evapotranspiration (ET) ratio used in the ESI were computed for representative forested and agricultural regions. The correlation analyses reveal strong apparent anticorrelation between MODIS LAI and TRMM precipitation anomalies over the Amazon, but better coupling over regions vegetated with shorter grass and crop canopies. The ESI was more consistently correlated with precipitation patterns over both landcover types. Temporal comparisons between ESI and TRMM anomalies suggest longer moisture buffering timescales in the deeper rooted rainforest systems. Diagnostic thermal-based retrievals of ET and ET anomalies, such as used in the ESI, provide independent information on the impacts of extreme hydrologic events on vegetation health in comparison with VI and precipitation-based drought indicators, and used in concert may provide a more reliable evaluation of natural and managed ecosystem response to variable climate regimes.

Sequence stratigraphy after the demise of a high-relief carbonate platform (Carnian of the Dolomites): Sea-level and climate disentangled

Sedimentary facies analysis aided by quantitative 3D georeferenced field data is applied to constrain the sequence stratigraphy of a complex stratigraphic interval in the Late Triassic of the Dolomites. This multidisciplinary approach was the key to disentangle the timing of climatic change vs. sea-level fluctuation and their effects on shallow water carbonate depositional systems. The “Carnian Pluvial Event”, a global episode of climate change worldwide documented at low latitudes, involved increased rainfall and possibly global warming. This climatic event begins before a drop of sea-level and caused the demise of microbial-dominated high-relief carbonate platforms that dominated the Dolomites region, and was followed by a period of coexistence of small microbial carbonate mounds and arenaceous skeletal–oolitic grainstones. A subsequent sea-level fall brought to the definitive disappearance of microbialites and shallow water carbonates switched to ramps dominated by oolitic–bioclastic grainstones. The crisis of early Carnian shallow water carbonate systems of the Dolomites generated a geological surface similar to a drowning unconformity, although no transgression occurred. As the high-relief microbial carbonate systems characterized by steep slopes switched to gently inclined oolitic–skeletal–siliciclastic ramps, basins were rapidly filled. The change of carbonate depositional systems was associated with an increase in siliciclastic input, in turn triggered by the onset of a humid climatic event and only later to a sea-level drop. This evolution of carbonate systems cannot be interpreted in the light of sea-level changes only: climate change, and consequent ecological changes in the main carbonate producing biotas, induced significant modifications in depositional geometries. This case study may serve as a conceptual model for the sedimentary evolution of carbonate systems subject to ecological crisis that do not evolve in platform drowning because, despite a drop in shallow water carbonate production, a combination of low subsidence and/or sea level drop maintains the platform top at shallow depth.

Carbon isotope records reveal synchronicity between carbon cycle perturbation and the “Carnian Pluvial Event” in the Tethys realm (Late Triassic)

In the early Late Triassic a period of increased rainfall, named the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE), is evidenced by major lithological changes in continental and marine successions worldwide. The environmental change seems to be closely associated with a negative carbon isotope excursion that was identified in a stratigraphic succession of the Dolomites (Italy) but the temporal relationship between these phenomena is still not well defined. Here we present organic-carbon isotope data from Carnian deep-water stratigraphic sections in Austria and Hungary, and carbonate petrography of samples from a marginal marine section in Italy. A negative 2–4‰ δ13C shift is recorded by bulk organic matter in the studied sections and is coincident with a similar feature highlighted in higher plant and marine algal biomarker carbon-isotope records from the Dolomites (Italy), thus testifying to a global change in the isotopic composition of the reservoirs of the exchangeable carbon. Our new observations verify that sedimentological changes related to the CPE coincide with the carbon cycle perturbation and therefore occurred synchronously within the western Tethys. Consistent with modern observations, our results show that the injection of 13C-depleted CO2 into the Carnian atmosphere–ocean system may have been directly responsible for the increase in rainfall by intensifying the Pangaean mega-monsoon activity. The consequent increased continental weathering and erosion led to the transfer of large amounts of siliciclastics into the basins that were rapidly filled up, while the increased nutrient flux triggered the local development of anoxia. The new carbonate petrography data show that these changes also coincided with the demise of platform microbial carbonate factories and their replacement with metazoan driven carbonate deposition. This had the effect of considerably decreasing carbonate deposition in shallow water environments.

An abiotic model for the development of textures in some South Atlantic early Cretaceous lacustrine carbonates

Abstract The cyclic distribution of various types of carbonates and Mg-clays in early Cretaceous rift-sag phase lacustrine carbonates from the subsurface of the South Atlantic provides an insight into how evolving lake chemistries in highly alkaline settings control facies development. The typically subdecametre scale symmetrical and asymmetrical cyclothems exhibit three main components: mud-grade laminated carbonates, millimetre-diameter spherulites with evidence of having been in a matrix of Mg-silicates, and millimetre–centimetre calcitic shrub-like growths. The laminites contain conspicuous numbers of ostracods and vertebrate remains and were produced by short-lived pluvial events, causing expansion of shallow lakes. Later evaporation triggered Mg-silicate precipitation and calcite nucleation within gels to produce spherulitic textures. When the rate of gel precipitation decreased or ceased, calcite growth, now less inhibited, produced shrub-like calcites resembling those produced abiotically in modern travertines, although still with some evidence of the former presence of some Mg-silicates. Physical reworking of these sediments led to the dispersion of the gels and the concentration of detrital carbonate components. Despite earlier proposals, evidence of microbial processes producing carbonates in these Cretaceous lake deposits is rare and the application of facies models based on modern and ancient microbialite analogues maybe be misplaced.

Precipitation anomalies in Eastern-Central Iowa from 1640 – Present

Summary The Midwest has experienced several extreme hydrologic events over the last few decades, including severe drought events in 1988, 1989 and most recently in 2012. The economic impact of drought on the Midwest, specifically on the state of Iowa, is particularly substantial because of the region’s reliance on agriculture. The Midwest drought in 2012 lead to decreased crop yield across most of Iowa and record high temperatures throughout the growing season (April–October). However, the severity of this and other recent extreme hydrologic events are better understood when placed in the context of multiple centuries of Midwest hydroclimatic variability. In this study we combine a 350 year tree ring reconstruction of annual precipitation from 17 archives in Eastern-Central Iowa to a shorter-term instrumental record from 43 COOP precipitation stations. We analyze precipitation anomalies between 1640 and 2013 and report the return rates of specific drought and pluvial events. The results show that the last 20 years in Iowa have been the wettest 20-year period on record, including the only three years which are 3 or more standard deviations wetter than the (1640–2013) mean. The 1990–2013 period coincides with previously reported increases in annual precipitation and extreme precipitation events, along with decreases in drought severity and spatial extent. The 2012 drought was the driest anomaly over the last 20 years. However, the event was not anomalous with respect to the entire 373 year record and had a return period of approximately 6 years.

Eustatic control on epicontinental basins: The example of the Stuttgart Formation in the Central European Basin (Middle Keuper, Late Triassic)

The deposition of the Stuttgart Formation (‘Schilfsandstein’), commonly considered as a type-example of the Carnian Pluvial Event, was controlled by high frequent 4th order sequences that resulted in pre-, intra- and post-Schilfsandstein transgressions from Tethyan waters into the epicontinental Central European Basin (CEB). The pre-Schilfsandstein transgression flooded the CEB trough gates to the Southeast and resulted in a wide-spread inland sea that was characterised by increased biological productivity, predominantly oxic conditions and enabled the immigration of euryhaline marine fauna with plankton, ostracodes, fishes, bivalves and the gastropods Omphaloptychia suebica n. sp. and Settsassia stuttgartica n. sp. The rather short-term intra- and post-Schilfsandstein transgressions flooded the CEB from the Southwest and Southeast and established a shallow brackish inland sea that stretched up to North Germany. Both, the 4th and 3rd order sequences derived from the succession in the CEB correlate well with those derived from successions of Tethyan shelfs. Therefore pronounced circum-Tethyan eustatic cycles are evidenced and may have had considerable impact on prominent middle Carnian events: Reingraben turnover, Carnian Pluvial Event, Carnian Crisis and Mid Carnian Wet Intermezzo. The broad circum-Tethyan evidence of 106-year scale cycles suggests glacioeustatic sea-level changes even in the Triassic Greenhouse period.

A Tibetan lake sediment record of Holocene Indian summer monsoon variability

Sedimentological data and hydrogen isotopic measurements of leaf wax long-chain n-alkanes (δDwax) from an alpine lake sediment archive on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (Paru Co) provide a Holocene perspective of Indian summer monsoon (ISM) activity. The sedimentological data reflect variations in lake level and erosion related to local ISM rainfall over the Paru Co catchment, whereas δDwax reflects integrated, synoptic-scale ISM dynamics. Our results indicate that maximum ISM rainfall occurred between 10.1 and ∼5.2 ka, during which time there were five century-scale high and low lake stands. After 5.2 ka, the ISM trended toward drier conditions to the present, with the exception of a pluvial event centered at 0.9 ka. The Paru Co results share similarities with paleoclimate records from across the Tibetan Plateau, suggesting millennial-scale ISM dynamics were expressed coherently. These millennial variations largely track gradual decreases in orbital insolation, the southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), decreasing zonal Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) gradients and cooling surface air temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau. Centennial ISM and lake-level variability at Paru Co closely track reconstructed surface air temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau, but may also reflect Indian Ocean Dipole events, particularly during the early Holocene when ENSO variability was attenuated. Variations in the latitude of the ITCZ during the early and late Holocene also appear to have exerted an influence on centennial ISM rainfall.

Climatic and eustatic controls on the development of a Late Triassic source rock in the Jameson Land Basin, East Greenland

Complex environmental controls have influenced deposition of the Gråklint Beds, a prospective oil- and gas-prone Late Triassic (Mid-Carnian) source rock in the Jameson Land Basin, East Greenland. The identification of a Late Triassic source rock is significant for hydrocarbon exploration in the North Atlantic region. Detailed sedimentological analysis, biostratigraphy and geochemical analysis provide insights into the controls on source rock development and have wider implications for palaeoclimatic trends and palaeogeographical reconstructions of the North Atlantic at this time. The Gråklint Beds were deposited in a predominantly lacustrine setting during a phase of climatic cooling that can be ascribed to the ‘Mid-Carnian Pluvial Event’. This further extends the evidence for the global effect of such climatic perturbations and furthermore highlights the potential for the use of climatic events for global and regional correlation between varying environmental settings. Evidence is also recorded for marine ingression, which resulted in the precipitation of magadiite (NaSi 7 (OH) 3 .3H 2 O) and the brief influx of a marine fauna. This provides the most southerly record of marine influence from the Boreal Ocean at this time and has important implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and correlation in the region.

Analyses of optical images and radar data reveal structural features and predict groundwater accumulations in the central Eastern Desert of Egypt

The North African Sahara is currently dominated by arid to hyperarid climate. In the central part of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, Wadi Matula is a dry stream course much like those in the rest of the Sahara. It covers an area of about 7,500 km2. Radarsat-1 images, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)/Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data revealed paleodrainage systems and fault/fracture zones. Its trends display cross-cutting relationships. Interrupted surface runoff connections are inferred from block movements, tectonic capture processes, diverted valleys, and paleodrainage. The movements of the blocks led to newly formed drainage and caused disturbances in drainage orientations, topography, fractures, and stream density. Paleodrainage and the more recent drainage lines are superposed on weakness zones of major fractures and faults. These zones facilitated the hydrologic processes that caused erosion and downcutting. The intersection points of paleochannel courses, fracture/fault systems, and active streams must have increased the possibilities of groundwater accumulations. Accordingly, several exploration wells are suggested, which they represent the best abstraction sites of groundwater potentials. These predicted sites are consistent with the high potential zone of the groundwater prospect map. Thick fluvial deposits support that past pluvial events recharged the underlying aquifers. It is concluded that locations of paleodrainage, fractures/faults, and stream intersections are the best sites for groundwater resources; thus, radar images are powerful tools for mapping multi-temporal near-surface features in arid regions.

Cause of Upper Triassic climate crisis revealed by Re–Os geochemistry of Boreal black shales

The Triassic Period is bracketed by two of the ‘big five’ Phanerozoic mass extinctions. Though long viewed as a period of climatic stability, emerging data suggest multiple climatic swings and at least one severe ecological crisis. Linking these climatic instabilities with probable causes is hampered by poor age control within the Triassic time scale. Here we present new Re–Os ages for shale sections straddling Middle–Upper Triassic stage boundaries. Nominal Re–Os isochron ages of 236.6 and 239.3Ma for the top and base of the Ladinian (upper Middle Triassic) bring absolute time into the contentious Triassic time scale, and place the beginning of the Late Triassic about 12m.y. earlier than previously assigned. A marked decrease in initial 187Os/188Os in Upper Ladinian shale records input from Wrangellian flood basalts — an instigator in the Carnian (Late Triassic) Pluvial Event and accompanying radiation of key fossil groups (e.g., dinosaurs and calcareous nanoplankton). An absolute time scale is proposed for the Anisian–Ladinian–Carnian boundaries based on Re–Os geochronology.

Erratum to: Onset of significant pelagic carbonate accumulation after the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) in the western Tethys

Abundant calcispheres occur in Upper Carnian and Norian hemipelagic limestone successions of the Southern Apennines and Sicily. They exhibit a variety of morphologies that were investigated with optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The most common morphology is that of a full solid sphere of radiaxial calcite crystals, 20–22 μm in diameter on average, with or without a minor hollow in the center. Smaller forms may be clusters of sub-micron crystals, only rarely disposed as to form a spherical test with a diameter of 10 μm or less. Larger forms are similar to small forms (clusters or spheres of sub-micron crystals) with an epitaxial calcite overgrowth. The taxonomic attribution of these calcispheres is uncertain, mostly because of their poor preservation, but a comparison is possible with some Mesozoic calcispheres attributed to calcareous dinocysts. The amount of epitaxial overgrowth is variable, but in most cases much larger than the original sphere. This prevents a significant evaluation of the contribution of calcispheres to carbonate pelagic sedimentation by point counting in thin-section. However, it can be shown that calcispheres become abundant only after a major climatic perturbation dated at the end of the Early Carnian, known as the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE). This event involved a strong and prolonged enhancement of the hydrological cycle, with consequent supply of excess hydrogen carbonate to the oceans and increased seawater alkalinity. Although calcispheres of this type are known at least from the Middle Triassic, it is only shortly after the CPE that they become abundant, and the first common occurrence of calcareous nannoplankton in the western Tethys is thus Late Carnian in age.

Late Triassic compositional changes of aeolian dusts in the pelagic Panthalassa: Response to the continental climatic change

The Carnian pluvial event (CPE) is considered as the drastic environmental change that occurred in the western Tethys during the Carnian (Late Triassic). Although some studies have suggested that the CPE was a global event, no studies have referred to pelagic environment related to the CPE. To reveal the pelagic environment during the Carnian, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis was used to determine the iron (Fe) species in chert samples collected from the Ladinian–Carnian strata in the Tamba–Mino–Ashio Belt, Japan. The X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis shows that all the red cherts contain hematite with a combination of clay minerals, such as illite, chlorite, and smectite. The existence of these minerals is identified using extended XAFS (EXAFS). The XANES analysis of the green and the white cherts does not show any hematite signatures, while the EXAFS analysis indicated increasing amounts of chlorite.The stratigraphic change in the Fe-bearing compositions observed in this study can be divided into three stages: (i) a stage where a relatively stable mineral composition (chlorite+illite+hematite) is observed in cherts deposited during the early Carnian (Julian), (ii) the abrupt change in mineral composition (lack of chlorite and appearance of smectite) observed in the middle area in the studied section and corresponding to the middle part of Carnian (late Julian–early Tuvalian), and (iii) the recovery of the previous stable mineral composition during the late Carnian (Tuvalian). These variations in the mineralogical composition of pelagic cherts can be interpreted to mean that the continental climate conditions changed during the Carnian, and different clay fractions were delivered to the pelagic region. These data, combined with the results of previous studies performed around the continental realm, can be interpreted as follows: (i) there was a relatively stable dry climate before the CPE, (ii) there were increasing amounts of precipitation owing to the CPE, and (iii) the climate returned to dry conditions similar to those prior to the CPE.

Is an Epic Pluvial Masking the Water Insecurity of the Greater New York City Region?*,+

Abstract Six water emergencies have occurred since 1981 for the New York City (NYC) region despite the following: 1) its perhumid climate, 2) substantial conservation of water since 1979, and 3) meteorological data showing little severe or extreme drought since 1970. This study reconstructs 472 years of moisture availability for the NYC watershed to place these emergencies in long-term hydroclimatic context. Using nested reconstruction techniques, 32 tree-ring chronologies comprised of 12 species account for up to 66.2% of the average May–August Palmer drought severity index. Verification statistics indicate good statistical skill from 1531 to 2003. The use of multiple tree species, including rarely used species that can sometimes occur on mesic sites like Liriodendron tulipifera, Betula lenta, and Carya spp., seems to aid reconstruction skill. Importantly, the reconstruction captures pluvial events in the instrumental record nearly as well as drought events and is significantly correlated to precipitation over much of the northeastern United States. While the mid-1960s drought is a severe drought in the context of the new reconstruction, the region experienced repeated droughts of similar intensity, but greater duration during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The full record reveals a trend toward more pluvial conditions since ca. 1800 that is accentuated by an unprecedented 43-yr pluvial event that continues through 2011. In the context of the current pluvial, decreasing water usage, but increasing extra-urban pressures, it appears that the water supply system for the greater NYC region could be severely stressed if the current water boom shifts toward hydroclimatic regimes like the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Late Palaeozoic–Early Triassic deposition and climates between Samfrau and Tethys: A review

Abstract In the period between the Westphalian and the Early Triassic, climatic conditions across Gondwana changed from the Gondwana-wide glaciation in the Late Carboniferous–Early Permian to warm to hot, semi-humid to arid conditions by the Late Permian–Early Triassic. In Afro-Arabia, glaciers advanced to 40° palaeolatitude creating a steep gradient between them and the temperate-humid environment in the vicinity of the equator. Synchronous deglaciation associated with a eustatic rise of sea level in the Early Sakmarian was followed by a flattening of the climate gradient and increased humidity, expressed by blackwater rivers and coal swamps between the South Pole and about 50° palaeolatitude and increasing aridity towards the equator. Brief poleward advances of hot aridity are evident around the Kungurian. Expansion of the hot climate zone to the south took place in the Middle Permian, commencing with a humid to semi-humid phase in the south and semi-arid to arid conditions towards the north. A short pluvial event is locally indicated at the beginning of the Triassic, but warm semi-arid to semi-humid conditions prevailed in the south and hot aridity near the equator. There are variations of that general theme in eastern Gondwana, but the fundamental changes in climate-controlled depositional environments occurred almost synchronously over the whole of Gondwana, including Antarctica. The slight drift of Gondwana towards the equator is therefore an unlikely cause for these changes, as are modifications of ocean–continent geometries or of atmospheric composition. As the main driver was temperature it is suggested that governing control, not only of global temperature but also of the intensity of geotectonic activities, was imposed on the solar system by forces emanating from our galaxy (cosmic ray flux, magnetic intensity, gravitational vectors) and their variation over the course of a galactic year (the time for the solar system to orbit the core of the galaxy).

Interglacial Pluvial Periods in Southern Arabia

The role of mid-latitude precipitation in the hydrological forcing leading to the deposition of sapropels in the Mediterranean Sea remains unclear. The new GDEC-4-2 borehole, East Corsica margin (northern Tyrrhenian Sea), provides the first precisely dated evidence for enhanced rainfall in the Western Mediterranean during warm intervals of interglacial periods over the last 547 kyr. Comparison of GDEC-4-2 proxy records with pollen sequences and speleothems from the central and eastern Mediterranean reveals that these pluvial events were regional in character and occurred probably in response to the intensification of the Mediterranean storm track along the northern Mediterranean borderlands in autumn/winter. Our dataset suggests that the timing of maxima of the Mediterranean autumn/winter storm track precipitation coincide with that of the North African summer monsoon and sapropel deposition. Besides highlighting a close coupling between mid- and low-latitude hydrological changes, our findings suggest that during warm intervals of interglacial periods the reduced sea-surface water salinities, together with the high flux of nutrient and organic matter, produced by the monsoonal Nile (and wadi-systems) floods, were maintained throughout the winter by the Mediterranean rainfall. This provides an important additional constraint on the hydrological perturbation causing sapropel formation.

Conifer-dominated palynofloras in the Middle Pennsylvanian strata of the De Lutte-6 borehole, The Netherlands: Implications for evolution, palaeoecology and biostratigraphy

The evolutionary history of Pennsylvanian tropical dryland/upland communities remains enigmatic. In this paper, we describe conifer-dominated palynofloras in a facies context from the early to mid-Moscovian (Middle Pennsylvanian) interval of the De Lutte-6 borehole (the Netherlands) that shed light on this issue. Our data suggest that, in the upper Bolsovian–lowermost Asturian part of the borehole succession, Florinites-producing cordaitaleans with subordinate tree-ferns, pteridosperms, calamiteans, and lycopsids, covered low-lying braidplains draining the rising Variscan Orogen, while Cordaitina/Latensina-producing cordaitaleans, walchian conifers and enigmatic pteridosperms mostly grew in hinterland regions (Assemblage I). At one relatively brief interval, a mire dominated by calamiteans and arborescent lycopsids developed within this braidplain complex (Assemblage II). In the mid-Asturian part of the borehole succession, following a switch from humid to seasonally-dry climates (indicated by paleosols), palynofloras associated with a shallow, but extensive, lake deposit imply that communities of walchian conifers, Cordaitina/Latensina-producing cordaitaleans, and engimatic pteridosperms covered low-lying drylands, but were cyclically replaced by lycopsid ‘ephemerals’ during short-term pluvial events (Assemblage III). Across tropical Pangaea, the climate-driven migration of diverse conifers from Bolsovian hinterlands to mid-Asturian basins coincides with (1) the more frequent appearance of conifer megafloral remains in the fossil record, (2) a gradual increase in the frequency of tree-ferns in clastic swamps, (3) a decline in the abundance of arborescent lycopsids in mires, and (4) a change from perhumid raised mires to humid planar mires in cratonic areas. We therefore highlight that the mid-Asturian (mid-Moscovian) interval is an under-appreciated event in the evolution of Pennsylvanian tropical vegetation, on a par with the better-known climate-driven floral changeovers that occurred in the earliest Kasimovian and Gzhelian–Asselian. Our palaeoecological findings also clarify a long-running biostratigraphic controversy by showing that conifer dominance in the De Lutte-6 borehole is completely consistent with its Bolsovian–Asturian age, and does not require the invocation of an unconformity separating an inferred Westphalian part of the succession from an inferred upper Stephanian/Permian part of the succession, as suggested by some earlier workers. This, in turn, emphases the importance of selecting isotaphonomic (isoclimatic) samples for biostratigraphic purposes.

Onset of significant pelagic carbonate accumulation after the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) in the western Tethys

Onset of significant pelagic carbonate accumulation after the Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) in the western Tethys