Title
Toward identifying potential causes for stratigraphic change in subtropical to tropical Laurentia during the Mohawkian (early Late Ordovician)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Abstract
Numerical models of the ocean-climate system indicate that during the early Late Ordovician, water from the higher southern latitudes flowed north toward the equator. The cold-water masses welled up into and penetrated the epicontinental sea of Laurentia. The "cold-water conditions" existed despite high levels of pCO 2 (∼15× preindustrial atmospheric levels) and did not necessarily indicate the onset of glaciation during the early Late Ordovician; rather the cold-water conditions may indicate the onset of a cooling event that plunged the Ordovician Earth system toward icehouse conditions that would lead later to the end-Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation. Furthermore, the observed distribution of cold-water masses across the southeastern margin of Laurentia is consistent with the interpretation that a cold-water event caused a regional extinction in the Mohawkian of eastern Laurentia. © 2010 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
First Page
29
Last Page
35
Recommended Citation
Herrmann, A., & Haup, B. (2010). Toward identifying potential causes for stratigraphic change in subtropical to tropical Laurentia during the Mohawkian (early Late Ordovician). Special Paper of the Geological Society of America, 466, 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1130/2010.2466(03)