Paleowinds inferred from detrital-zircon geochronology of upper Paleozoic loessite, western equatorial Pangea

Abstract

U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons from upper Paleozoic loessite (western United States) provides data bearing on atmospheric circulation within western equatorial Pangea. Zircon age spectra of four loessites from three localities representing middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) and Early Permian (Wolfcampian) time vary significantly, reflecting changing provenances attributable to temporal and spatial shifts in winds. Zircons from two Desmoinesian samples (from Arizona and Utah) show a dominant mode between 1800 and 1600 Ma, reflecting the Yavapai-Mazatzal terranes that cored the Ancestral Rockies uplifts and suggesting northeasterly winds. Both samples also contain a secondary cluster of Grenvillian grains (1300–1000 Ma), reflecting a south-southeasterly source. Ages for Wolfcampian samples (from New Mexico and Utah) differ from one another; the New Mexico loessite contains a large mode at 1700 Ma, missing in the Utah sample, reflecting their locations on opposing sides of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, within a westerly wind regime. Inferred easterly winds for middle Pennsylvanian time match model predictions, and the presence of both northerly and southerly directions might reflect time-averaged fluctuation of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. In contrast, monsoonal circulation and attendant westerly winds appear to have been well established by earliest Permian time.