Paleogeography exerts a fundamental control on Earth’s climate system and the evolution of life. Throughout Earth’s history, the shifting positions of landmasses, the opening and closing of seaways and ocean basins, and the rise of mountain ranges, have shaped ocean and atmospheric circulation, global biogeochemical cycles, and patterns of biological evolution.
This session invites contributions that reconstruct paleogeography and explore its impacts, from the reconstruction of ancient supercontinents to the controls of ocean gateways on climate and biotic dispersals. We particularly encourage submissions that use new approaches to unravel the interplay between paleogeography, paleoclimate, and biological evolution across Earth’s history, from the Precambrian to the Neogene, at regional to global scales. Approaches may include, but are not limited to, paleomagnetism, marine geophysics, field geology, stratigraphy, paleontology, geochemistry, geodynamics, and climate modelling. We also welcome integrative studies that combine diverse datasets, as well as modelling studies that link deep-earth processes, such as mantle convection and true polar wander, with their surface expressions.
By bringing together a diverse community of geoscientists, this session aims to promote cross-disciplinary interactions and establish new directions to advance our understanding of how Earth’s changing geography shaped the evolution of climate and life.
Christian Vérard