Abstract
Evolution of River Systems during the Breakup of Pangea
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author
The Hydrology tools (Spatial Analyst) were used to map the paleodrainage patterns and the location of paleorivers for five time intervals spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. During this period of Earth History the supercontinent of Pangea, which occupied over 40% of Earth's surface, rifted apart to form the modern continents and ocean basins. A statistical analysis was performed to characterize the average length of river systems and the average area of drainage basins before, during and after continental breakup. As expected, the average length of rivers and the average area of drainage basins decreased as consequence of continental fragmentation. However, other variables turned out to be equally, or more important. River length and drainage area were affected by: changes in global sealevel, mountain-building, and the location of land areas with respect to the Equatorial Rainy belt and Subtropical Arid belt.
Amber Stolz
University of Texas at Arlington
213 Barwood drive
Saginaw, Texas 76179
United States
Phone: 8172391747
E-mail: amber.stolz@mavs.uta.edu
Christopher Scotese
University of Texas at Arlington
500 Yates Drive
Arlington, Texas 76019
United States
Phone: 8172721978
E-mail: cscotese@uta.edu