Collaborative Research: Permian and Triassic Icehouse to Greenhouse Paleoenvironments and Paleobotany in the Shackleton Glacier Area, Antarctica

The research focus of this collaborative proposal was to collect fossil plants, fossil wood, stratigraphic, sedimentologic, paleosol, and geochemical data from plants and the rocks that contain them in order to reconstruct the extent of the Gondwana glaciation in the Shackleton Glacier (SHK) area, the invasion and subsequent flourishing of life following glacial retreat, changes to the physical environment, and the eventual recovery of plant life after the Late Permian biotic events. Only in Antarctica does a complete polar-to-near-polar succession occur across this climatic and biologic transition. The SHK is an important one as it is one of the few regions in the world where the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) is exposed within terrestrial rocks. In addition, outcrops in the SHK area extend from the glacigenic deposits of the Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian through to the Upper Triassic and thus record ecosystems and the plants that inhabited them from the Gondwana icehouse into the Late Permian-Early Triassic greenhouse and into presumed "full recovery" of floras from the PTB extinctions in the Late Triassic.

The project encompassed a multidisciplinary plan that used various types of paleobotanical expertise, integrated with detailed sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochemistry, in order to reconstruct Permian-Triassic plant communities and their paleoenvironments. This interdisciplinary approach is a powerful tool to uncover details of Antarctica’s complex late Paleozoic and Mesozoic environmental, climatic, and biotic history which included: 1) glaciation/deglaciation, 2) development and evolution of a post-glacial landscape and biota, 3) environmental and biotic change associated with the end-Permian mass extinction events, 4) earliest ecosystems in the Triassic, 5) greenhouse conditions in the Triassic, 6) full ’recovery’ of floras and ecosystems by the Late Triassic, and, through all of these events, 7) development and changes in a foreland basin system. Three interrelated focus areas, each delimited by distinct hypotheses and action strategies, provided the framework to trace floral diversity and environmental evolution after the retreat of glaciers through to the Late Triassic. Antarctica is the only place on Earth that includes extensive outcrops of high-paleolatitude terrestrial rocks, combined with widespread and well-preserved plant fossils, and that spans this crucial time.

The research and broader impacts of this proposal were integrated into action strategies that have been successful in the past. Compression floras were collected (constrained by stratigraphy) both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to obtain biodiversity and abundance data, and as a data source for paleoecological analysis. Even in formations where megafossils were unknown (e.g., Lower Permian), fossil wood is present so that anatomy and geochemistry of tree rings were examined. Standard sedimentologic and stratigraphic analyses were performed, as well as paleosol analyses, including mineralogic and major- and trace-element geochemistry. Collections will also be made for U-Pb zircon geochronology to better constrain geologic and biotic events.

The Broader Impacts of the project involved education and outreach initiatives that included women and under-represented groups in the excitement of Antarctic earth sciences: 1) Continuing successful public outreach, teaching, and mentoring of women and under-represented students in Antarctic research; 2) Participation in workshops for under-represented groups via the Expanding Your Horizons Program in Kansas, the TRIO program (KU), and the STELAR summer workshop (UWM) for high-school students. 3) Outreach via the KU Natural History Museum; 4) Exploring Antarctic geosciences through continued presentations to pre K-12 school groups, and field and lab activities at UWM, as well as links from McMurdo Station and satellite conferences from the field with K-12 science classes in Wisconsin and Illinois.