The Permian Period (~300-250 million years ago) is a time of great change, including an end to the long-term mountain building that formed the supercontinent Pangaea, the end of a major continental glaciation, and the prelude to the largest mass extinction in Earth history. Continental sedimentary rocks, including red-bed siliciclastics and evaporites, were deposited during the Permian throughout the midcontinental United States and record major climate change. This research will integrate sedimentologic and geochemical data from outcrops and cores to interpret depositional environments and paleoclimate from these mid-upper Permian redbeds and evaporites. The goal of this research is to determine whether: 1) the mid-continent was dominated by extensive lakes, including freshwater and saline perennial as well as saline and acid-saline ephemeral types; (2) regional climatic changes are faithfully recorded in these strata; and (3) ?redbeds? record a causative link between iron-rich eolian dust and extremely acid saline lakes. Understanding these abrupt climatic and environmental changes in the past improves our ability to test and refine climate models.
