Highlights—Protean Permian Paleoclimate

Paleosols include potentially important paleoclimate indicators. Counts and Hasiotis document continental deposits in core from Lower Permian strata of western Kansas that contain a number of pedogenic features that suggest variable soil moisture during the development of cumulic paleosols. These paleosols are interpreted to have formed over fourth-order eustatic cycles, although climate change associated with fifth-order cycles resulted in close juxtaposition of pedogenic features that suggest both humid and drier climates. The study demonstrates how paleosols may be the net product of highly variable climate and climate shifts, and emphasizes that all pedogenic features should be taken into account when reconstructing paleoclimate.

Distribution, paleoenvironmental implications, andstratigraphic architecture of paleosols in Lower Permian continental depositsof western Kansas, U.S.A. by John W. Counts and Stephen T. Hasiotis