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

David De Vleeschouwer (), Anne-Christine Da Silva, Matthias Sinnesael, Daizhao Chen, James E. Day, Michael T. Whalen, Zenghui Guo and Philippe Claeys
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David De Vleeschouwer: University of Bremen
Anne-Christine Da Silva: Liège University
Matthias Sinnesael: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Daizhao Chen: Chinese Academy of Science
James E. Day: Illinois State University
Michael T. Whalen: University of Alaska
Zenghui Guo: Chinese Academy of Science
Philippe Claeys: Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: 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 Cretaceous Ocean-Anoxic-Event-2 (OAE-2). This obliquity signature implies coincidence with a minimum of the 2.4 Myr eccentricity cycle, during which obliquity prevails over precession, and highlights the decisive role of astronomically forced “Milankovitch” climate change in timing and pacing the Late Devonian mass extinction.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02407-1

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