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Whether a global greenhouse interval is a distinct or distant future, it is important to understand the dynamics of a greenhouse system. During such intervals the oceans, in the absence of sizeable polar ice caps, flood the continental shelf. The stratification and circulation of these epicontinental seas are open to debate, because there are no Recent analogs. The carbon and oxygen stable isotope record of fossil molluscan shell from epicontinental seas has the potential to reveal their stratification and seasonal cycles. Whether a global greenhouse interval is a distinct or distant future, it is important to understand the dynamics of a greenhouse system. During such intervals the oceans, in the absence of sizeable polar ice caps, flood the continental shelf. The stratification and circulation of these epicontinental seas are open to debate, because there are no Recent analogs. The carbon and oxygen stable isotope record of fossil molluscan shell from epicontinental seas has the potential to reveal their stratification and seasonal cycles. As a study sample, mollusks from the Baculites compressus and Baculites cuneatus biozones of the Western Interior Seaway of North America were collected from three locations: Kremmling, Colorado; Trask Ranch, South Dakota; Game Ranch, South Dakota. These fossils date to the Campanian (Late Cretaceous). Taxa include ammonites, bivalves, gastropods, and nautiloids. The first part of this investigation, described in Chapter 2, investigates the degree of alteration in these specimens. Elevated concentrations of minor elements such as magnesium and strontium reveal alteration from the original aragonite and/or calcite skeletons. Concentrations of these elements obtained by ICP-OES analysis are compared within several suites of specimens: mode of preservation, shell testing location, shell color, cementation, appearance under light microscope, and appearance under scanning electron microscope. Each of these suites tests a hypothesis about optimal shell preservation. Shell was found to be preserved best in shale rather than concretions, ammonite phragmacone rather than septa, opalescent specimens rather that nonopalescent ones, and uncemented shells rather than cemented shells, especially those with second-order versus first-order cement. Salinity and temperature values were derived for the organisms in the Western Interior Seaway: while bivalves produced unusually low temperatures, the others were reasonable for an inland sea. The second part of this study, described in Chapter 3, examines the isotopic record within exemplary mollusk shells, taken perpendicular to growth lines. The data for this investigation in sclerochronology documents the dominant isotopically enigmatic bottom-water habitat of the Inoceramus, the geochemical signature of the overlying water mass inhabited by Baculites, and short-term migrations between the two water masses in the nautiloid Eutrephoceras.

Orientador: Marcello Guimarães Simões / Resumo: Bakevelliidae (Bivalvia, Pterioidea) são bivalves extintos, marinhos, de epifauna a semiinfauna, bissados, suspensívoros, com pelo menos 20 gêneros descritos e inúmeras ocorrências em todo o mundo. Eles prosperaram do Paleozoico tardio ao Eoceno, atingindo máxima diversidade durante o Mesozoico (principalmente no Jurássico Inferior e Médio). Eles também foram abundantes e bem distribuídos em sucessões sedimentares cretáceas, como àquelas das bacias do Araripe e Sergipe-Alagoas, ocorrendo também de forma pontual na bacia de Pernambuco-Paraíba, no nordeste do Brasil. Neste documento, novos Bakevelliidae aptianos (Cretáceo Inferior) são descritos para a Formação Romualdo, Grupo Santana, Bacia do Araripe, nordeste do Brasil. A análise está fundamentada no exame detalhado de 361 espécimes, provenientes do terço superior da Formação Romualdo, principalmente das seções geológicas nas bordas sudoeste e sudeste da bacia, tendo sido, porém, registrados em toda a Bacia do Araripe. Juntamente com outros membros conhecidos da família Bakevelliidae, já registrados na Formação Romualdo (i.e., Aguileria dissita), os novos bivalves (Araripevellia musculosa gen. et sp. nov., Aguileria romualdoensis sp. nov. e Gen et sp. Indet.) indicam que a fauna de Bakevelliidae desta unidade foi mais diversa do que se imaginava anteriormente. Calcários ricos em conchas de Bakevelliidae, alguns com espécimes preservados in situ, estão restritos ao terço superior desta unidade, o mesmo intervalo estratigráfic... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Bakevelliids (Bivalvia, Pterioidea) are extinct, marine, stationary epifaunal to semi-infaunal, suspension feeding bivalves with at least 20 described genera and numerous occurrences worldwide. They thrived from the Late Paleozoic to Eocene, reaching the maximum diversity during the Mesozoic (mainly Early and Middle Jurassic). They were also abundant and widespread in many Cretaceous sedimentary successions, as in the Araripe and Sergipe- Alagoas basins, also occurring occasionally in Pernambuco-Paraíba basin, in NE Brazil. In this document, new Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) bakevelliid bivalves are described for the Romualdo Formation, Santana Group, Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil. Analysis is based on the detailed examination of 361 specimens all from the upper third interval of the Romualdo Formation, mainly from geological sections in the southwestern and southeastern borders of the basin, but they were recorded in all four corners of the Araripe Basin. Together with the other known members of the family Bakevelliidae, already record in the unit (i.e., Aguileria dissita), the new bivalves (Araripevellia musculosa gen. et sp. nov., Aguileria romualdoensis sp. nov., and Gen et sp. indet.) indicate that the Romualdo bakevelliid fauna was more diverse than previously realized. Bakevelliid-rich carbonates, some with in situ specimens, are restrict to the upper third of this unit, the same stratigraphic interval yielding echinoderm-, gastropod- and stromatolitebearing limestone... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Lucas Veríssimo Warren / Resumo: A megassequência evaporítica transicional de idade aptiana constitui importante registro da abertura da margem equatorial brasileira, das primeiras conexões entre as águas dos oceanos Atlântico Sul e Central, e de depósitos das bacias interiores do Nordeste do Brasil. Nesse contexto, destaca-se a Formação Crato da Bacia do Araripe, composta por sucessão mista carbonática-siliciclástica com espessuras de até 90 m. A Formação Crato é mundialmente reconhecida pela excepcional preservação de fósseis continentais que conferem a unidade o status de Konservat-Lagerstätte. A unidade faz parte de sequência deposicional constituída pela porção superior da Formação Barbalha (predominantemente fluvial) e pela Formação Ipubi (depositada em condições evaporíticas), e é considerada como depositada em um sistema lacustre, associado à deposição deltaica nas porções proximais e carbonática nas porções bacinais. No entanto, tais interpretações vêm sendo questionadas devido a recentes descobertas de atividade microbiana nos calcários laminados da unidade. Face ao panorama exposto, este trabalho buscou aplicar abordagem calcada na análise multi-indicadores (sedimentologia, tafonomia, icnologia, estratigrafia de sequências, química orgânica, isótopos estáveis de oxigênio e carbono e análises de estrutura de deformação sin-sedimentar) dos depósitos da Formação Crato. A utilização de múltiplas técnicas de investigativas foi necessária afim de amparar a interpretação dos ambientes deposicionais, além... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Aptian evaporitic transitional megasequence constitutes important register of the equatorial margin rifting, development of the seaway between the South and Central Atlantic oceans, and deposition in the interior basins of the NE Brazil. In this context, highlights the up to 90-m-thick mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession from the Crato Formation, Araripe Basin. This unit is worldwide renowned for the exceptional preservation of terrestrial assemblages in laminated limestones and as one of the most important Cretaceous Konservat- Lagerstätte of the world. The occurrence of such well-preserved fossils boosted paleontological and sedimentological research focused in the origin of the laminated limestones. The Crato Formation is part of a transgressive-regressive depositional sequence of which the Barbalha (fluvial-lacustrine) and Ipubi (playa lake evaporites) formations are part. The unit is considered a lacustrine system with deltaic deposition in the shallow waters and carbonate precipitation in the basinal areas. However, these interpretations have been questioned in the last years, mainly by the discovery of microbial activity in the limestone intervals. Considering this context, the present research used a multi-proxy approach (sedimentology, taphonomy, ichnology, sequence stratigraphy, organic geochemistry, stable istotopes, and analysis of sin-sedimentary deformation structures) for the interpretation of the mixed deposits of the Crato Formation. The application ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Global climate is controlled by two factors, the amount of heat energy received from the sun (solar insolation) and the way that heat is distributed Earth's surface. Solar insolation varies on timescales of 10s to 100s of thousands of years due to changes in the path of Earth's orbit about the sun (Milankovitch cycles). Earth's internal boundary conditions, such as paleogeography, the presence/absence of polar icecaps, atmospheric/oceanic chemistry and sea level, provide distribution and feedback mechanisms for the incoming heat. Variations in these internal boundary conditions may happen abruptly or, as in the case of plate tectonics, take millions of years. We use geochemical and sedimentological techniques to investigate the response of ocean chemistry, regional aridity and atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns to climate change during both greenhouse and icehouse climates. To explore the connection between orbitally-forced changes in solar insolation, continental aridity and wind, we generated a high-resolution dust record for ~58 Myr old deep-sea sediments from Shatsky Rise. Our data provide the first evidence of a correlation between dust flux to the deep sea and orbital cycles during the Early Paleogene, indicating dust supply (regional aridity) responded to orbital forcing during the last major interval of greenhouse climate. The change in dust flux was comparable to that during icehouse climates implying subtle variations in solar insolation have a similar impact on climate during intervals of over-all warmth as they do during glacial-interglacial states. The Carboniferous Period (359-299 Ma) marks a critical time in Earth's history when a series of tectonic and biological events caused a shift in the mean climate state from a global "greenhouse" to an "icehouse". Geochemical records extracted from sedimentary rocks deposited in shallow epicontinental seaways are increasingly being used to infer relationships between tectonism, carbon cycling and climate and therefore are assumed to reflect global ocean processes. We analyzed radiogenic isotopes in biogenic apatite along a North American transect to constrain the degree of geochemical coupling between the epicontinental seas and the open ocean. Our results argue strongly for decoupling of North American seaways from the open ocean by latest Mississippian time.