The Late Paleozoic Ice Age: An Evolving Paradigm

The late Paleozoic icehouse was the longest-lived ice age of the Phanerozoic, and its demise constitutes the only recorded turnover to a greenhouse state. This review summarizes evidence for the timing, extent, and behavior of continental ice on Pangea in addition to the climate and ecosystem response to repeated transitions between glacial and interglacial conditions. Combined empirical and climate modeling studies argue for a dynamic ice age characterized by discrete periods of glaciation separated by periods of ice contraction during intermittent warmings, moderate-size ice sheets emanating from multiple ice centers throughout southern Gondwana, possible glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere, and…

• NS
  National Science Foundation