Field, micromorphologic and geochemical study of modern and ancient soils from Riesel, Texas and Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya.

Michel, Lauren Ashley.

Field, micromorphologic and geochemical study of modern and ancient soils from Riesel, Texas and Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya.

dc.contributor.advisor	Driese, Steven G.
dc.contributor.advisor	Peppe, Daniel J.
dc.contributor.author	Michel, Lauren Ashley.
dc.contributor.department	Geology.	en_US
dc.contributor.schools	Baylor University. Dept. of Geology.	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2014-06-11T13:57:18Z
dc.date.available	2014-06-11T13:57:18Z
dc.date.copyright	2014-05
dc.date.issued	2014-06-11
dc.description.abstract	Paleosol are utilized to reconstruct paleoclimate and paleoenvironment by paleopedologists. However, paleopedologists must constrain for all of the state factors that create a soil before paleoclimate or paleoenvironment can be assessed. Study of a modern catena in Riesel, TX shows that landscape position, parent material and time have important implications for pedogenesis. Soils with a limestone parent material component that form on ridge crests-side slopes may include marine bedrock within their pedogenic calcite nodules, because soil erosion rates exceed soil-production rates. Conversely, soils that form on toe slopes have a longer period of soil duration and formation, and more complete weathering of the parent material occurs. These soils have pedogenic carbonate nodules that reflect an admixture of CO₂ from the atmosphere and soil-derived CO₂. Since the initial discovery of Proconsul, Rusinga Island has been one of the most important Early Miocene fossil localities in East Africa, with vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant fossils recovered. Because environment is a catalyst for evolutionary adaptation, scientists have attempted to determine the paleoenvironment in which Proconsul lived. However, paleoenvironmental reconstructions have lead to conflicting results, with interpretations ranging from open grassland/parkland to closed-canopy rainforests. Recent revised stratigraphy, coupled with new paleomagnetic data and age dates, allows for a unique opportunity to reconstruct paleoenvironment for a time-slice of Miocene strata on Rusinga Island that contains both Pronconsul and the catarrhine Dendropithecus, among other vertebrate fossils. Paleopedological study has indicated the existence of a forest ecosystem developed on a landscape that received frequent inputs of sediment reworked from volcaniclastic materials. Global Positioning System mapping of fossil tree stump casts has allowed for modern forestry metrics to be applied whereas description of root cast density and structure, and paleosol descriptions have provided insight for below-ground processes. Although traditional paleosol-based proxies fail because of the lack of time for pedogenic development, paleobotanical proxies applied to fossil leaves in the overlying sandstone are able to constrain mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. Using this multi proxy approach, a higher-resolution picture has emerged that ties Proconsul definitively to a multistoried, closed-canopy, tropical seasonal forest that was probably relatively wet, and hot.	en_US
dc.description.degree	Ph.D.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Michel, L. A., Driese, S. G., Nordt, L. C., Breecker, D. O., Labotka, D. M., Dworkin, S. I. "Stable-Isotope geochemistry of vertisols formed on marine limestone and implications for deep-time paleoenvironmental reconstructions." Journal of Sedimentary Research 83, (2013): 300-308.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Michel, L. A., et al. "Paleopedological and geochemical interpretation of a late early miocene paleoforest time-slice, Upper Hiwegi Formation, Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya." Palaios (submitted).	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Michel, L. A., Peppe, D. J., Lutz, J. A., Driese, S. G., Dunsworth, H. M., Harcourt-Smith, W. E. H., Horner, W. H., Lehmann, T., Nightingale, S., McNulty, K. P. "Remnants of an ancient forest provide ecological context for early miocene fossil apes." Nature Communications, 5 (2014): 3236, doi:10.1038/ncomms4236	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/2104/9088
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher		en
dc.rights	Baylor University theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact librarywebmaster@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.	en_US
dc.rights.accessrights	Worldwide access.	en_US
dc.rights.accessrights	Access changed 10/6/16.
dc.subject	Geology.	en_US
dc.subject	Isotope geochemistry.	en_US
dc.subject	Soils.	en_US
dc.subject	Micromorphology.	en_US
dc.subject	Biological anthropology.	en_US
dc.subject	Paleoenvironmental reconstructions.	en_US
dc.subject	Bulk soil geochemistry.	en_US
dc.title	Field, micromorphologic and geochemical study of modern and ancient soils from Riesel, Texas and Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya.	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US