1991/08/01 by Russell F. Dubiel, Judith Totman Parrish, J. Michael Parrish +1 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Geological formations and processes #Plant Diversity and Evolution
paper · doi:10.2307/3514963
openalex publication_date 1991/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The Upper Triassic Chinle Formation was deposited at an exceptional time in Earth's paleogeographic and paleoclimatic history. During the Triassic, the supercontinent Pangaea was at its greatest size, in terms of both aggregated continental crust and exposed land area. Moreover, the exposed land was divided symmetrically about the paleoequator between the northern and south- ern hemispheres. These conditions were ideal for maximizing monsoonal circulation, as predicted from paleoclimate models. The Chinle was deposited between about 5° to 15° N paleolatitude in the western equatorial region of Pangaea, a key area for documenting the effects of the monsoonal climate. This study summarizes sedimentologic and paleontologic data from the Chinle Formation on the Colorado Plateau and integrates that data with paleoclimatic models. The evidence for abundant moisture and seasonality attest to the reversal of equatorial flow and support the hypothesis that the Triassic Pangaean climate was dominated by monsoonal circulation.