Permian loess and equatorial glaciation in eastern equatorial Pangea

Abstract

Carboniferous-Permian strata in basins within and proximal-to the Central Pangean Mountains (CPM) archive regional paleoequatorial climate during a unique interval in geological history (Pangean assembly, ice-age apex-and-collapse, megamonsoon inception). Whether these strata preserve a periglacial signal—or are periglacial in origin—remains debated. With a focus on upper Paleozoic (Upper Carboniferous – Permian) strata from the Lodève Basin, south-central Massif Central, France (eastern equatorial Pangea), this dissertation aims to address these questions through detailed sedimentology and analytical methods such as sediment geochemistry, detrital zircon geochronology, and cyclostratigraphy (time series analysis of magnetic susceptibility data). The four chapters of this dissertation are formatted for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.