CYCLIC SEDIMENTATION AND CLIMATICALLY CAUSED SEA-LEVEL CHANGES IN THELATE PALEOZOIC OF CENTRAL-EUROPE

Significant short-term fluctuations are characteristic of geological h istory since Precambrian times. Only the younger Quaternary climatic f luctuations are known in more detail as a result of a high grade time resolution. Climatic change can also be postulated with respect to old er, cold periods during which polar inland ice sheets developed. From a discussion of endogene and exogene interpretations it is shown that global climatic changes, and the sea-level changes induced by them, as well as changes in the position and extent of climatic zones througho ut the world provide a control mechanism for sedimentation which is co nsistent with cyclic sedimentation in Late Palaeozoic times, and also if the basin subsides non-cyclically. The model allows an explanation of the development of the Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary cycles witho ut numerous short-term vertical oscillations of the earth's crust. In reality, exogene and endogene controls on sedimentation act together i n great variety of combinations.