Timing and pacing of the Late Devonian mass extinction event regulated by eccentricity and obliquity.

ABSTRACT: The Late Devonian envelops one of Earth's big five mass extinction events at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary (374 Ma). Environmental change across the extinction severely affected Devonian reef-builders, besides many other forms of marine life. Yet, cause-and-effect chains leading to the extinction remain poorly constrained as Late Devonian stratigraphy is poorly resolved, compared to younger cataclysmic intervals. In this study we present a global orbitally calibrated chronology across this momentous interval, applying cyclostratigraphic techniques. Our timescale stipulates that 600 kyr separate the lower and upper Kellwasser positive δ¹³C excursions. The latter excursion is paced by obliquity and is therein similar to Mesozoic intervals of environmental upheaval, like the Cret

SUBMITTER: De Vleeschouwer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5741662 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature