Re: The Western Interior Seaway (and computers)

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:25:29 +0200 David Marjanovic
<david.marjanovic@gmx.at> writes:
 
> I guess the temperature gradient could even have been inverse. 
> Assuming the 
> water was clean enough, the sun shone to the bottom of the WIS. 


Considering the prodigious sediment influx that inundated certain spots
in the Seaway, I would imagine that the surface seawater in those areas
had the appearance more like a cafe' mocha.  Most of the Pierre
Shale/Bear Paw Shale (the substrate of the WIS) is mudstone, not
sandstone.

Patchy areas of suspended particulates could really complicate the
thermodynamic regime in the WIS, particularly if there are clear water
(cooler?) regions and murky water (warmer?) regions.  The interactions
between these zones could have been very complex.

<pb>
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