Paleogeography ppt

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Presenter: Hafiz Umair Ali BS Applied Geology (2011-2015) Fourth Professional (Petroleum Division) Institute of Geology , University of the Punjab, Lahore

Hafiz Umair Ali, BS Applied Geology(2011-2015)

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(With Respect to Pakistan)

Introduction

Paleogeographic Methods

Global Paleogeography (Emphasizing Pakistan)

References

Contents


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Paleogeography is the study of historical geography

or the geography of particular geological past.

Purposes

a) Helps to determine Sedimentary Basin Architecture

b) Reconstruction of Continents


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Introduction

The study of paleogeography has two principle

goals.

a) Mapping the Past Positions of Continents

b) Mapping the Changing Distribution of Mountains, Lowlands, Shallow Seas and Deep Ocean Basins


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Paleogeographic Data

The position of continents throughout the geological

past can be determined using the following five data types.

a) Paleomagnetism

b) Linear Magnetic Anomalies

c) Paleobiogeography

d) Paleoclimatology

e) Geologic and Tectonic History

Hafiz Umair Ali, BS Applied

Geology(2011-2015) 7

Mapping Past Position of Continents

Tectonic Events (e-g Convergence, Divergence)

Ice Ages

Sea Level Fluctuations


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Mapping the Changing Distribution of Mountains, Lowlands, Shallow Seas and

Deep Ocean Basins

The paleogeographic studies are carried out to find

out the ancient geography from Precambrian to Recent and to put a future model of geography. The geographic locations (to be explained in next sessions) are hypothetical and based on evidences from rock record.


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Global Paleogeography

Late Precambrian is significant because Continents were

colliding to form a supercontinent , and Earth was locked in major Ice Age.

Formation of supercontinent Rhodinia about 1100 Million Years ago.

Opening up of Panthalassic Ocean 750 Million Years ago.

A new supercontinent Pannotia formed due to the collision of Three continents (i-e Northern and Southern half of Rhodinia, & Congo Craton Continent ) , 550 Million Years ago.


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Precambrian


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In Pakistan Precambrian sedimentary rocks are

exposed as Salt Range Formation (late Precambrian)

The Evaporites sequence of Salt Range Formation shows the restricted environment which developed due to the closure of all tectonic plates to form a new supercontinent Pannotia.


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Precambrian (Pakistan)

Animals with hard-shells appeared in great numbers

for the first time during the Cambrian.

Gondwana supercontinent had just formed and located near South Pole.

An early formed supercontinent Pannotia began to break apart at the beginning of Paleozoic Era. A new ocean namely, Iapetus , started to develop between the continents of Laurentia (North America), Baltica (Northern Europe), and Siberia.


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Cambrian


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The Cambrian Sequence in Salt Range seems to have

been deposited in gradually shallowing inter tidal to tidal basin leading to desiccation and formation of halite casts.

The Cambrian of Hazara Basin (Hazira Formation , & Abbottabad Formation) seems to have been shallow and barred with frequent phosphate rich upwelling currents form the open sea. (Fucsh and Mostler, 1972 ; Shah, 1977)

Cambrian Sequence in Peshawar Basin i-e Amber Formation (dolomite, chert, minor shale) and Darwaza Formation (limestone , argillite ) is just confirmed to be of Cambrian just because they are overlain by Ordovician Strata.


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Cambrian (Pakistan)

During Ordovician, the rifting between Laurentia,

Baltica, Siberia and Gondwana widen the Ocean.

The end of the Ordovician was one of the coldest times in Earth history. Ice covered much of the southern region of Gondwana.


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Ordovician


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Warm water deposits, such as limestone and salt,

were found in the equatorial regions of Gondwana (Australia, India, China, and Antarctica)

while glacial deposits and ice-rafted debris occurred in the south polar areas of Gondwana (Africa and South America.


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Ordovician

There are no occurrences of latest Cambrian in the

entire Himalayans. An angular unconformity separates the Cambrian and Ordovician in Spiti Valley (Hayden, 1934).

In Pakistan the Ordovician sequence is reported only from Peshawar Basin, Chitral District, and some unfossilliferous formations of Axial Belt are correlated with Cambrian of Peshawar Basin (doubtfully)


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Ordovician (Pakistan)

In the Peshawar Basin,

Pakistan, an unconformity separates the Cambrian (Amber Formation) from the Ordovician (Misri Banda Quartzite). Locally conglomerates occur at the base of Misri Banda Quartzite.

The marine basin of Ordovician is extended from Peshawar to Nepal.


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Ordovician (Pakistan)

A cartoon showing basin configuration in Ordovician Time

Laurentia collides with Baltica closing the northern

branch of the Iapetus Ocean and forming the "Old Red Sandstone" continent.

This continental collision, preceded in many places by the obduction of marginal island arcs, resulted in the formation of the Caledonide mountains in Scandinavia, northern Great Britain and Greenland, and the Northern Appalachian mountains along the eastern seaboard of North America.


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Silurian

North China and South China had rifted away from

the Indo-Australian margin of Gondwana, and were headed northwards across the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.

Beginning of closure of the Iapetus Ocean, the collision of Avalonia with Baltica ,widening of the Rheic Ocean between Baltica and Gondwana continued subduction along northern margin of Gondwana , subduction of the Panthalassic Ocean beneath Laurentia and Siberia.


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Silurian


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Within the Himalayan part there is a gradual

reduction in thickness of the Silurian succession from east to west and increase in arenaceous/argillaceous contents.

In Peshawar, there is a regressive cycle towards the end, which as unequivocally observed in the Spiti part, that resulted in a break between the Silurian and the Devonian.


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Silurian (Pakistan)

In general the environment of sedimentation

represents several shoaling cycles beginning from middle-lower shore face and ending in upper shore face near Undathem (microfiches belt 7 of Wilson, 1975) and subtidal-intertidal interface, with periodic storm episodes (Bhargava 2008) to zero energy of carbonate flat (Kumar, S. et al. 1977). The Peshawar part does not fall in this generalized pattern. The Kandar Formation seems to show gradual deepening in younger parts (Talent and Bhargava, 2003).


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Silurian (Pakistan)

By the Devonian the early Paleozoic oceans were

closing, forming a "pre-Pangea".

Freshwater fish were able to migrate from the southern hemisphere continents to North America and Europe.

Forests grew for the first time in the equatorial regions of Artic Canada.


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Devonian


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Devonian Rocks in Peshawar Basin comprises of

Nowshehra Formation, Misri Banda Quartzite , and Sabak Formation (Older to younger) , resting over Panjpir Formation of Late Silurian age. Presence of Conodonts indicates Devonian age.

Other Devonian rocks are from Khyber Agency.i-e Ali Masjid Formation which rests over Landikotal Formation in the area is correlated with Devonian of Peshawar Basin. Conglomeritic beds and Lateritic inclusions indicate repeated breaks during sedimentation.


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Devonian (Pakistan)

In the Himalaya, the beach/barrier island conditions

prevailed at least from Kashmir to Uttarkhand till Givetian.

Shallow marine conditions persisted from Nepal to Bhutan throughout the Devonian.

In Peshawar area organic reef environment existed in Early Devonian and again possibly in Middle Devonian; this part of the basin as compared to other areas was perhaps deeper.


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Devonian (Pakistan)

During the Early Carboniferous the Paleozoic oceans

between Euramerica and Gondwana began to close, forming the Appalachian and Variscan mountains.

By the end of the Paleozoic Era, most of the oceans that had opened during the breakup of Pannotia, were consumed as the continents collided to form the supercontinent of Pangea.


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Carboniferous

During the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian

the southern regions of Pangea (southern South America and southern Africa, Antarctica, India, southern India, and Australia) were glaciated.

The broad Central Pangean mountain range formed an equatorial highland that during late Carboniferous was the locus of coal production in an equatorial rainy belt.


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Carboniferous


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The Carboniferous rocks are the part of Tethyan

Himalayan i-e Kashmir, Zanskar-Spiti, Kinnaur-Uttarkhand, Nepal, Bhutan, and Peshawar.

In Peshawar, the Khyber Formation, and Jafar Kando Formation have been reported to be of Carboniferous.

Latest Devonian and Early Mississippian and Late Pennsylvanian conodonts have been reported from the limestone lenses of this formation.


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Carboniferous (Pakistan)

The most possible explanation seems to be that by

the time Peninsular glaciers reached the present Himalayan part, they had melted and their load was carried by fluvial agencies to the Himalaya where they were reworked and deposited as delta-fans, the environment of sedimentation varied from delta-fan to beach, locally to upper shore face.


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Carboniferous (Pakistan)

Vast deserts covered western Pangea during the

Permian as reptiles spread across the face of the supercontinent.

By the mid-Permian, the Central Pangean mountain range had moved northward into drier climates and the interior of North America and Northern Europe became desert-like as the continued uplift of the mountain range blocked moisture-laden equatorial winds.


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Permian


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Permian

Cimmeria consisted of parts of Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya. It appears to have rifted away from the Indo-Australian margin of Gondwana during the Late Carboniferous

The Early Permian is developed in parts of the Peninsula,

the Salt Range, and the Lesser and Tethyan Himalaya.

The center of glaciation was Central India, by the time the glaciers reached Salt Range, they mostly melted resulting in fluvio-glacial deposits (Kazmi and Jan, 1997) .

The rising sea flooded the low-lying areas of the Salt Range and Rajasthan.

The sedimentation during this period was in cold and shallow environment.


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Permian (Pakistan)

The supercontinent of Pangea, mostly assembled by

the Triassic, allowed land animals to migrate from the South Pole to the North Pole. Life began to rediversify after the great Permo-Triassic extinction and warm-water faunas spread across Tethys.

The continental collisions that lead to the formation of the supercontinent began in the Devonian and continued through the Late Triassic.


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Triassic


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The Triassic strata of Pakistan contains Mianwali

Formation, Tredian Formation, Kingriali Formation (older to younger) in Indus Basin and Chak Jabi Limestone , and Wulgai Formation in Axial Belt.

The environment of deposition varies from pro delta to distal delta , followed by marine transgressive environment with local barriers which might have resulted in evaporites deposits.


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Triassic (Pakistan)

By the Early Jurassic, south-central Asia had

assembled. A wide Tethys ocean separated the northern continents from Gondwana. Though Pangea was intact, the first rumblings of continental break up could be heard.

The supercontinent of Pangea began to break apart in the Middle Jurassic.

In the Late Jurassic the Central Atlantic Ocean was a narrow ocean separating Africa from eastern North America. Eastern Gondwana had begun to separate from Western Gondwana.


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Jurassic


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A shoreline existed along, or close to the eastern

border of Pakistan in Early Jurassic Time. Seaward to the north and west, a shallow marine shelf extended into the areas of Kohat, and Sulaiman Range (Now).

A delta lobe prograded westward in the vicinity of salt Range, bringing terrigenious clastics to the Sulaiman Mountains.

During Middle Jurassic shore line retreated further towards east and the area formely occupied by delta lobe became progressively non marine


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Jurassic (Pakistan)

By Bathonian time (Upper Middle Jurassic) a wide

shallow marine shelf environment was existing in most of the Indus Basin.

The correlation of the Jurassic Strata with Iran (Zagros Mountains, and Fars Province), it become obvious that similar conditions were sustaining in Iran as well.


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Jurassic (Pakistan)


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Paleogeographic Map of Early Jurassic , Pakistan

During the Cretaceous the South Atlantic Ocean

opened. India separated from Madagascar and raced northward on a collision course with Eurasia.

Other Important Tectonic Events are :

a. The initiation of rifting between North America and Europe.

b. The counter-clockwise rotation of Iberia from France.


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Cretaceous


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Cretaceous

Globally, the climate during the Cretaceous Period, like the Jurassic and Triassic, was much warmer than today. Dinosaurs and palm trees were present north of the Arctic Circle and in Antarctica and southern Australia.

In Pakistan, during Early Cretaceous time, the area

of Sulaiman Range, Upper Indus Basin , and parts of Axial Belt (especially Quetta) , in the west was a broad marine shelf opening westward, without restriction , into the Southerly extension of Tethys Ocean.

Indian Shield served as a source of Terrigenious Sediments for Chichali, Lumshiwal , and Sembar Formation.


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Cretaceous (Pakistan)

During Maastrichtian Time, rate of sedimentation

exceeded the rate of subsidence in the basin , resulting in lowering of sea level.

The Pab Sandstone was deposited in Shallow littoral Environment indicating retreating of shore line from east to westward. This retreat possibly opened a way to Erosion.


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Cretaceous (Pakistan)

Supercontinent Laurasia had not yet separated into three

continents - Europe and Greenland were still connected.

North America and Asia were still intermittently joined by a land bridge.

while Greenland and North America were beginning to separate.

The Laramide Orogeny of the late Cretaceous continued to uplift the Rocky Mountains in the American west, which ended in the succeeding epoch.


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Paleocene

Rifting in

Gondwana Land was continue in Paleocene.

Indian Continent continue to migrate towards Eurasia.


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Paleocene

In Pakistan, from Paleocene sequence it is depicted

that facies not only become more marine vertically but also more marine in western and southern directions.

A long narrow zone, containing swamps, marshes, and meandering streams, probably existed on the eastern half of the Punjab, as indicated by Coal, and other carbonaceous material in Hangu Formation and in Lower part of Ranikot Group.


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Paleocene (Pakistan)

Another Indication of the near shore line to the

source area is that the sands of Bara Formation of Ranikot Group (Paleocene) are texturally immature than Sands of Pab Sandstone (Late Cretaceous).

The areas of Jaccobabad High, Sargodha High , and Sanjawi Arc receives no sedimentation during Early and Middle Paleocene. In these areas Dungan Formation (mostly of Late Paleocene) was directly developed over.


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Paleocene (Pakistan)


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Paleogeographic Map of Paleocene

The Major Event occurred

in Eocene, the Subduction of the Tethyan Oceanic Floor under the Eurasian Plate, followed by the Intense Collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate, forming long chain of Himalayan Mountains.


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Eocene

In Eocene (Like Paleocene), the southern extension of

Tethys Ocean was restricted.

Presence of Shallow sea deposited limestones during Early Eocene, with deposition of Gypsum, and Salt as well in areas of Kohat, possibly due to restrictive environment created by ongoing motion of Indian Plate towards the Eurasian Plate.

In lower Indus Basin mostly Shallow Marine Conditions were prevailed.


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Eocene (Pakistan)

The Kirthar Range represents a period of stability

during Eocene. Only single type of rock i-e limestone was deposited in Kirthar Range, unlike Sulaiman Range where alternation of Limestone, and shales are common.

In this part, sea remained shallow and indicate warm environment.


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Eocene (Pakistan)


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Paleogeographic Map of Early Eocene

20 million years ago, Antarctica was coverd by ice

and the northern continents were cooling rapidly. The world has taken on a "modern" look, but notice that Florida and parts of Asia were flooded by the sea.

The collision of India with Asia is just one of a series of continental collisions that has all but closed the ocean great Tethys Ocean.


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Miocene

The Other Continental Collisions during Miocene are

as follow:

a. Spain with France forming the Pyrenees mountains

b. Italy with France and Switzerland forming the Alps

c. Greece and Turkey with the Balkan States forming the Hellenide and Dinaride mountains.

d. Arabia with Iran forming the Zagros mountains

e. The youngest collision, Australia with Indonesia.


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Miocene


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No Marine sedimentation is recorded after this

period, and reworking of Himalayan sediments resulted in filling of foreland basins. (e-g Rawalpindi Group, Siwaliks Group).

The Marine sedimentation was still continuing in the Arabian Ocean.


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Miocene (Pakistan)

We are entering a new

phase of continental collision that will ultimately result in the formation of a new Pangea supercontinent in the future. Global climate is warming because we are leaving an Ice Age and because we are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.


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Modern World

If we continue present-

day plate motions the Atlantic will widen, Africa will collide with Europe closing the Mediterranean, Australia will collide with S.E. Asia, and California will slide northward up the coast to Alaska.


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Future World (+50 Million Years)

Stratigraphy of Pakistan (GSP Memoirs Vol. 22, 2009)

Memoir of the Geological Society of India (Vol. 78 , 2011)

O.N. Bhargava , Paleozoic Succession of the Indian Plate, 2011

Gondwana to Asia: Plate tectonics, paleogeography and the biological connectivity of the Indian sub-continent from the Middle Jurassic through latest Eocene (166–35 Ma) Jason R. Ali ⁎, Jonathan C. Aitchison, 2008


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References


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Education

Paleogeography ppt