Paleosols of the upper Paleozoic Sangre de Cristo Formation, north-central New Mexico: Record of early Permian palaeoclimate in tropical Pangaea

During the early Permian, northern New Mexico was situated in a near equatorial position (ca. 4° N). The overall character of the paleosols suggests a persistent warm, semi-humid, seasonal climate throughout most of the interval of deposition during the Wolfcampian, but with episodically increased aridity during formation of the more mature calcretes. No long-term trend of climate change is evident in the stratigraphic section examined for this study.