Chapter
10-11
Paleozoic
Earth History
Introduction
 In 1815, William Smith, a canal builder, published the
world’s first geologic map. His hand-painted map
represented over 20 years of work.
 England is a country rich in geologic
history. Development of geology
proceeded rapidly with the naturalists
of the 19th century.
 The Paleozoic history is well
represented there, involving several
episodes of mountain building and
sea level changes, mostly related to
plate tectonics and glaciation.
 The Map that change the world
S3
Continental Architecture:
Cratons and Mobile Belts
Most continents consist of two major
components:
1. relatively stable craton over
which epeiric seas
transgressed and regressed
2. surrounded by mobile belts
in which mountain building took
place.
Epeiric seas – shallow seas
covering part of the craton
Mobile belts – elongate areas of
mountain building, primarily
created during plate convergence
Paleozoic Paleogeography
Six major continents existed at the beginning
of the Paleozoic Era
Four were located near the paleoequator.
 Baltica, China, Gondwana, Kazakstania,
Laurentia and Siberia
Paleozoic Paleogeography
Early-Middle Paleozoic Global History
During the Early Paleozoic (Cambrian-Silurian):
Laurentia was moving northward and
Gondwana moved to a south polar location, as
indicated by tillite deposits.
Paleozoic Paleogeography
Late Paleozoic Global History
During the Late Paleozoic (Devonian – Permian):
Baltica and Laurentia collided to form Laurasia.
Siberia and Kazakhstania collided and finally were
sutured to Laurasia.
Paleozoic Paleogeography
Late Paleozoic Global History
During the Late Paleozoic (Devonian – Permian):
Gondwana moved over the South Pole
 Gondwana experienced several glacial-interglacial periods,
resulting in global sea-level changes and transgressions
and regressions along the low-lying craton margins.
Fig. 20.3 b, p. 528
S8 Fig. 20.3b, p. 528
Paleozoic Paleogeography
Late Paleozoic Global History
Laurasia and Gondwana underwent a series of
collisions beginning in the Carboniferous.
During the Permian, the formation of Pangaea
was completed. Surrounding the supercontinent
was a global ocean, Panthalassa.
S9 Fig. 20.4b, p. 530
Paleozoic Evolution of North America
The geologic history of North America can be
divided into cratonic sequences that reflect
craton wide transgressions and regressions.
There are 6 cratonic
sequences recognized in
North America.
The study of cratonic
sequences is called
sequence stratigraphy
In sequence stratigraphy
rocks are studied within a
time-stratigraphic framework
related to facies and
bounded by unconformities
The Sauk Sequence
(Neoproterozoic – Early Ordovician)
The Sauk Sea was the first major sequence to
transgress onto the craton.
The Sauk Sequence
(Neoproterozoic – Early Ordovician)
 During the transgressive portions of each cycle, the North American
craton was partially to completely covered by shallow seas in which
a variety of clastic and carbonate sediments were deposited.
 This resulted in widespread sandstone, shale, reef, and coal
deposits.
S 12 Fig. 20.7, p.
The Sauk Sequence
(Neoproterozoic – Early Ordovician)
At its maximum, it covered the craton except for parts
of the Canadian Shield and the Transcontinental Arch
Transcontinental Arch
- a series of large,
northeast-southwest
trending island.
The Tippecanoe Sequence
(Middle Ordovician – Early Devonian)
The Tippecanoe sequence began with deposition
of an extensive sandstone over the eroded Sauk.
During Tippecanoe
time, extensive
carbonate deposition
took place.
In addition, large barrier
reefs enclosed basins,
resulting in evaporite
deposition within these
basins.
Tippecanoe Reefs and Evaporites
S15 Fig. 20.9, p. 539
Tippecanoe Reefs and Evaporites
Fig. 20.11, p. 541
S16
Barrier
reef
Laminar
Anhydrite
stromatoporoid
Halite
Evaporite
Carbonate
Pinnacle
reef
Stromatoporoid
barrier reef
Limestone from the carbonate facies.
Stromatolites
Algal
Coral algal
Crinoidal
Laminar
stromatoporoid
Cross section of a stromatoporoid colony from the
stromatoporoid barrier reef facies.
Niagara
Formation
Clinton
Formation
Core of rock salt from the
evaporite facies.
Stepped Art
S17 Fig. 20-11, p. 541
The Tippecanoe Sequence
(Middle Ordovician – Early Devonian)
The End of the Tippecanoe Sequence
By early Devonian, the
Tippeecanoe Sea had
regressed to the cratonic
margin, exposing extensive
low-lands.
Mild warping of the craton
produced many domes,
arches and basins.
Most of these were eroded
down by the time our new sea,
the Kaskaskia transgressed.
S 18 Fig. 20.1, p.
The Kaskaskia Sequence
(Middle Devonian – Late Mississippian)
The basal beds of the Kaskaskia sequence deposited
on the exposed Tippecanoe surface were either:
sandstones derived from the eroding Acadian
Highlands or
carbonate rocks.
S19 Fig. 20.13, p. 543
The Kaskaskia Sequence
(Middle Devonian – Late Mississippian)
Reef Development in Western Canada
Most of the Kaskaskia
sequence is dominated by
carbonates and associated
evaporites.
The Devonian Period was a
time of major reef building.
A large barrier reef system
restricted the flow of oceanic
water, creating conditions for
evaporite precipitation.
S20 Fig. 20.14, p. 544
The Kaskaskia Sequence
(Middle Devonian – Late Mississippian)
Black Shales
Widespread black shales were
deposited over large areas of
the craton during the Late
Devonian and Early
Mississippian.
Chattanooga Shale –
Thin-bedded
Highly-radioactive
Source rock for oil and gas
Origin highly debated.
S21 Fig. 20.15, p. 544
The Kaskaskia Sequence
(Middle Devonian – Late Mississippian)
The Late Kaskaskia—A Return to
Extensive Carbonate Deposition
The Mississippian
Period was dominated
for the most part by
carbonate deposition.
The broad Kaskaskian
epeiric sea covered
most of North America.
S22 Fig. 20.16, p. 545
The Absaroka Sequence
(Pennsylvanian – Early Jurassic)
What Are Cyclothems, and
Why Are They Important?
Pennsylvanian Period
Transgressions and
regressions, probably caused
by advancing and retreating
Gondwanan ice sheets, over
the low-lying North American
craton resulted in:
cyclothems and
the formation of coal
swamps
S23 Fig. 20.17, p.
546
Cyclothems
S24 Fig. 20.18, p. 547
The Absaroka Sequence
(Pennsylvanian – Early Jurassic)
Cratonic Uplift—The Ancestral Rockies
Cratonic mountain
building, specifically the
Ancestral Rockies,
occurred during the
Pennsylvanian Period
Resulted in thick
nonmarine detrital
rocks and evaporites
being deposited in the
intervening basins.
S25 Fig. 20.19, p. 548
The Absaroka Sequence
(Pennsylvanian – Early Jurassic)
The Late Absaroka—More
Evaporite Deposits and Reefs
 By the Early Permian, the
Absaroka Sea occupied a narrow
zone of the south central craton.
 Here, several large reefs and
associated evaporites developed.
By the end of the Permian Period,
the Absaroka Sea had retreated
from the craton.
S26 Fig. 20.22, p. 550
Fig. 20.23, p. 550
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
 Mountain-building activity took place primarily along the
eastern and southern margins (known as mobile belts) of
the North American craton during the Paleozoic Era.
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Several orogenies occurred in the Appalachian belt
during the Paleozoic:
Taconic orogeny
Caledonian orogeny
Acadian orogeny
Hercynian-Alleghenian orogeny
S27
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Taconic orogeny
Throughout Sauk time, the Appalachian region
was a broad, passive continental margin. A
divergent boundary existed along the eastern side
of Laurentia widening the Iapetus Ocean
S28 Fig. 20.24, p. 551
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Taconic orogeny
In mid-Ordovician time, the carbonate deposition
ceased and was replaced with by deepwater
black shales, graywackes and volcanics, marking
the development of a subduction zone.
S29 Fig. 20.24, p. 551
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Taconic orogeny
The final stage of the
orogeny was marked by a
thick sandstone deposit,
the Queenstone clastic
wedge, thinning away
from the Taconic
mountains.
This wedge represents
erosion of the Taconic
Highlands mountain belt.
S30 Fig. 20.25, p. 552
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Caledonian orogeny
The Caledonian mobile belt is
the European equivalent of the
Taconic mobile belt, forming
the western border of Baltica
facing the Iapetus Ocean
A clastic wedge also formed
along the front of these
mountains called The Old Red
Sandstone.
S31 Fig. 20.24 b, p. 551
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Acadian orogeny
The Acadian orogeny occurred
along an oceanic-continental
convergent plate boundary.The
plate carrying Baltica finally
collided with Laurentia, forming
a continental-continental
convergent plate boundary.
The closing of the Iapetus
Ocean ended by forming a new
continent called Laurasia.
A new clastic wedge, the
Catskill Delta, formed on the
west side.
S32 Fig. 20.26, p. 552
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
The Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone
initially shed clastics from the
Caledonian Highlands, then
spread eastward onto the
Baltica craton in Devonian.
It is famous, as is the Catskill
Delta, for its freshwater fish
and early amphibian fossils,
as well as early land plants.
S33 Fig. 20.26, p. 552
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
The Hercynian-Alleghenian orogeny
The Hercynian mobile belt in Europe and the
Alleghenian mobile belt in North America mark the zone
where Laurasia collided with Gondwana.
The Hercynian-Alleghenian orogeny begins at its north
end in Mississippian time and slowly moves to the
south suturing together the continents as it goes.
The first continent-continent collision is between
western Laurasia and Gondwana. – Hercynian (Miss.)
The next area to collide is eastern Laurasia and
Gondwana. – Alleghenian (Penn.-Permian).
This is the beginning of the formation of the
S34
supercontinent Pangaea.
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
 Cordilleran Mobile Belt
 Antler orogeny
 In middle Paleozoic, a volcanic arc
formed off the western margin of
Laurentia.
 The subduction created thick deep
water deposits that were thrust upon
the craton when the volcanic arc
collided with the craton in late
Devonian.
 The Antler orogeny marks the
collision. The Antler Highlands are
composed of the deepwater deposits
that were thrust onto the craton.
S35 Fig. 20.27, p. 553
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Ouachita Mobile Belt
Ouachita orogeny
 Mountain building occurred in
the Ouachita mobile belt
beginning in late Mississippian,
Pennsylvanian and Early
Permian.
 Thrusting created a large
mountain range extending from
the Ouachita mountains in
Arkansas to the Marathon
mountains in far West Texas.
S36 Fig. 20.28, p. 554
What Role Did Microplates and Terranes
Play in The Formation of Pangaea?
During the Paleozoic Era, numerous terranes such as
Avalonia existed and played an important role in
forming Pangaea.
In addition to large-scale plate interactions, microplate
activity played an important role in the formation of
Pangaea. There were many microplates and terranes
of various sizes present during the Paleozoic.
These were all involved in the formation of Pangaea.
S37 Fig. 20.4 b, p. 530
Paleozoic Mineral Resources
Paleozoic-age rocks contain a variety of mineral
resources, including:
building stone
limestone for cement
silica sand
evaporites
petroleum
coal
ores of iron, lead, zinc
and other metallic deposits.
S38 Fig. 20.29, p. 555
End of
Chapter 10-11
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
Acadian orogeny
The Acadian mobile belt
occurred along a convergent
oceanic-continental boundary
between Laurentia and Baltica.
The Acadian orogeny marks the
continental-continental collision.
The closing of the Iapetus
Ocean ended by forming a new
continent called Laurasia.
A new clastic wedge, the
Catskill Delta, formed on the
west side.
S32 Fig. 20.26, p. 552
History of The Paleozoic Mobile Belts
Appalachian Mobile Belt
The Old Red Sandstone
The Catskill clastic wedge has
a European counterpart in the
Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone
initially shed clastics from the
Caledonian Highlands, then
spread eastward onto the
Baltica craton in Devonian.
It is famous, as is the Catskill
Delta, for its freshwater fish
and early amphibian fossils,
as well as early land plants.
S33 Fig. 20.26, p. 552