The first Phanerozoic glaciation, your record and impacts from rocks of the Paraná Basin, Brazil

• Grant number: 25/05758-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Carolina Zabini
• Grantee: Carolina Zabini
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Campinas
• Associated researchers: Charles Harvey Wellman ; Diego Fernando Muñoz ; Farid Chemale Junior ; Gustavo Gabriel Voldman ; Lívia Cardoso da Silva Rodrigues

Abstract

This proposal aims to delineate the occurrence of fossils and the paleoenvironmental conditions preserved in the earliest records of the Paraná Basin. The project focuses on integrating traditional fossil study methods with advanced micro- to nanoscale analytical techniques. This approach includes field studies, visits to collections, and laboratory analyses to obtain petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic data from rocks and fossils, along with species identification. All the stages will be carried out with a team of national and foreign researchers, ensuring a comprehensive analysis of the material under study. The time interval studied will be the Hirnantian, the final stage of the Ordovician, which records the second-largest mass extinction of the Phanerozoic. Previous Hirnantian stages will also be investigated, to obtain information about the paleodiversity before the extinction. Additional diversity data are required to determine whether there is endemism or a global distribution. In addition to diversity, various proxies will be analyzed to investigate paleoenvironmental variations throughout the glacial and post-glacial intervals, obtained via FRX, DRX, TOC and ICPMS data. Fossildiagenesis will also provide information on paleoenvironmental variations, or post-burial changes, which are crucial for understanding the record of this relevant event for life evolution. (AU)