widespread prolonged late middle to late ordovician upwelling in north america a proxy record of glaciation late middle to late ordovician subtidal ramp carbonates of new mexico texas and oklahoma contain abundant spiculitic chert to 70 chert by volume and phosphate 1 5 wt indicating that these rocks formed in an extensive upwelling zone upwelling began in the late middle ordovician ca 454 ma and persisted until the end of the ordovician late ordovician cherty carbonates also occur along the u s cordilleran margin in board of organic rich graptolitic shale and chert the widespread occurrence of late ordovician cherty and phosphatic carbonates on southern and western laurentia in addition to phosphate rich cool water carbonates over much of the north american midcontinent suggests vigorous thermohaline circulation related to prolonged 10 14 ma gondwana glaciation

predicting flow properties in diagenetically altered media with multi scale process based modeling a wilcox formation case study abstract two approaches to capture the complex texture of wilcox sandstone samples in a pore scale model are employed a process based method and an image based method in the process based method petrographic analyses from transmitted light microscopy are used to infer the diagenetic history of the rock key steps in the diagenesis are quantitatively followed using a multi scale pore network modeling method to reconstruct the porous medium at different times in its history including the final state further information about pore sizes is gathered from scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption hysteresis measurements the ability to incorporate texture information of each diagenetic stage of a tight gas sandstone into a predictive multi scale pore network model is a novel aspect of this work in the image based method a micro ct image of the sample is acquired and a pore network model is extracted based on skeletonizing the resolvable pore space and mapping clusters of micropores to the unresolved porous areas the paragenesis of the formation was not captured using the image based method since sufficient details of its history could not be extracted the process based and image based methods produce comparable drainage capillary pressure curves while the drainage relative permeability curves in both methods display permeability jail effect they considerably differ from each other quantitatively the process based method produced a higher porosity and permeability compared to the image based method which is potentially due to the lower degree of its disorder high uncertainties in the petrophysical properties of tight gas sandstones is a costly challenge in their reservoir development our work provides insights into the effect of pore texture from different scales on rock fluid properties furthermore the methods demonstrated in this work can be pursued to extrapolate tight gas sandstone petrophysical properties between wells and throughout paragenetic sequences

a far field record of the end ordovician glaciation the ellis bay formation anticosti island eastern canada abstract the end ordovician was a critical period in earth history it was a time of global climatic change with large scale continental glaciations a wealth of recent work has documented the stratigraphical records from the near field areas i e from various gondwanan continental relics where glaciation was more severely felt there is an urgent need to re examine the stratigraphic record from the far field areas at greater levels of resolution than it has been hitherto possible in order to understand the timing duration and character at the glaciation centred around the ordovician silurian o s boundary one of the best exposed and most complete stratigraphic records from paleotropical areas near the boundary is on anticosti island in eastern canada the east west trending 200 km long ellis bay hirnantian outcrop belt with superb coastal exposures at both ends of anticosti island is slightly oblique to the paleoshoreline with near shore siliciclastic dominated facies restricted to the eastern part of the island and more offshore carbonate dominated facies present along the central and western parts these mixed carbonate siliciclastic facies accumulated along a storm dominated beach to offshore profile they are organized into a stacked set of shallowing upward offshore to shoreline facies successions typically coarsening upward separated by deepening upward facies successions typically fining upward formed during intervening transgressions high frequency glacio eustatic fluctuations were the dominant control on the development of tr sequences observed in the ellis bay succession of anticosti island although tectonic subsidence had a substantial secondary effect on thickness five tr sequences are recognized allowing for precise correlation along the ellis bay outcrop belt in the eastern sections relatively thin tr sequences are locally bounded by unconformities a typical sequence begins with thin transgressive limestone overlain by a maximum flooding calcareous shale grading up into regressive storm influenced proximal to transitional zone fine sandstone grainstone and shale which are sharply overlain by shoreface to foreshore sandstone grainstone in the central and western sections the thicker tr sequences have more symmetrical transgressive regressive components reflecting greater subsidence compensated by a higher carbonate sediment supply two discrete glacial periods are recognized during the deposition of the hirnantian ellis bay succession with the younger one recording large sea level changes 50 m in magnitude caused by the development of very large ice sheets over western gondwana abundant ice conditions on the globe during the end ordovician and the resulting high amplitude eustasy appear to have left distinctive stratigraphical imprints on mixed paleotropical siliciclastic carbonate ramps

variations in the sterane carbon number distributions of marine source rock derived crude oils through geological time abstract the analysis of the sterane data of a large set of crude oils 414 derivedfrom marine carbonate 27 and siliciclastic source rocks 14 where influences of terrestrial or lacustrine derived organic matter can reasonably be excluded shows that there are increases in the relative content of c28 steranes and decreases in the relative content of c29 steranes through geological time there are no consistent variations in the relative content of c27 steranes through time with one major exception a proterozoic oil from oman palaeozolic and older crude oils are thus generally characterised by strong predominances of c29 steranes and low relative concentrations of c28 steranes significantly higher proportions of c28 steranes and lower proportions of c29 steranes occur in oils derived from jurassic and upper cretaceous source rocks these changes through time do not appear to reflect the chemical evolution of the sterols of one particular variety of marine organism the increase in c28 steranes may be related to the increased diversification of phytoplantonic assemblages in the jurassic and cretaceous possible sources of the c28 sterols necessary for the observed changes in crude oil steranes includes diatoms coccolithophores and dinoflagellates although the technique does not give an accurate means of determining the age of the source rock of a crude oil it is possible to distinguish younger crudes derived from the upper cretaceous and tertiary from palaeozoic and older crudes

methylhopanoids molecular indicators of ancient bacteria and a petroleum correlation tool abstract methylhopanoids are organic compounds synthesized by certain bacteria that when preserved in sediments act as molecular fossils or biomarkers for organic matter inputs from specific bacterial sources two series of methylhopanoids occur each mainly deriving from a distinct bacterial source cyanobacteria 2 methyl and methanotrophic bacteria 3 methyl the abundance and composition of methylhopanoids within sediments of modern depositional environments varies widely apparently due to different bacterial communities contributing to the sedimentary organic matter comparable molecular characteristics are found in oils and their source rocks consequently methylhopanoids are valuable in oil oil and oil source rock correlations distinguishing between samples related to different depositional environments in particular abundant 3 methylhopanoids from methanotrophic bacteria or an additional unknown bacterial source are characteristic of some modern alkaline saline lake environments comparable compositional features in the methylhopanes of oils allow the assignment of lacustrine oils offshore west africa to two distinct lacustrine source rock facies and to distinguish between different marine source facies thus refining oil source rock correlation

sequence stratigraphy of a carbonate clastic ramp the cincinnatian series upper ordovician in its type area the cincinnatian series consists of five depositional sequences each is composed of a thin transgressive systems tract and a much thicker shallowing upward highstand systems tract whereas the highstand systems tracts are relatively poor in micrite but rich in terrigenous shale the transgressive systems tracts are composed of cleaner carbonate facies ranging from coarse grained calcarenites to micrite rich wackestones and micstones this alternation of carbonate and terrigenousfacies types resulted from the trapping of clastic sediment near its presumed source in the appalachians during a relative sea level rise and it may be a feature common to sequences in other mixed carbonate clastic settings these depositional sequences were produced by eustatic fluctuations as shown by the limited extent to which the sequences can be traced into more proximal portions of the appalachian basin the recognition of depositional sequences clarifies the regional paleogeography and simplifies regional lithostratigraphic nomenclature within current biostratigraphic resolution sequences in the cincinnatian series appear to have chronostratigraphic significance and thereby offer an additional means of intrabasinal correlation in the upper ordovician

biochemical evolutionary significance of ordovician oils and their sources abstract geochemical data from several ordovician oils and kerogens from distinct basins in canada united states estonia and australia show some unique compositional characteristics the oils analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry are characterized by an odd dominance in the c9 c19 molecular weight range of normal paraffins and an odd dominated homologous series of cyclohexyl substituted normal paraffins the oils contain an unusually small amount of c20 components and pristane and phytane are conspicuous by their virtual absence the compositions of the oils and kerogens correlate closely and display characteristics that have not been observed in younger sediments the predominant organism found in the source kerogens for these unique oils is gloeocapsamorpha prisca a primitive prokaryotic organism data from the analysis of gloeocapsamorpha rich kerogens and the association of this organism with ordovician source rocks indicate a genetic relationship exists between the organism and the unusual oil chemistry the chemistry of the oils and kerogens suggests that gloeocapsamorpha was either non photosynthetic or that it fixed light using a chlorophyll that did not contain a phytyl side chain e g a bacteriochlorophyll the widespread occurrence of oils and kerogens possessing such a uniform composition appears unique to the ordovician certainly to the early paleozoic this suggests that paleocological conditions of ordovician anoxic environments were very similar and g prisca was particularly well adapted to these conditions

lipid biomarkers record fundamental changes in the microbial community structure of tropical seas during the late ordovician hirnantian glaciation the late ordovician mass extinction was linked to climate cooling and glaciation of gondwana during the terminal ordovician hirnantian age 444 7 443 4 ma extinction patterns have been well described for many marine taxa but much less is known about marine microbial communities through this interval to elucidate the structure of microbial communities in tropical marine basins through the late ordovician we analyzed lipid biomarkers in thermally well preserved strata from the taconic foreland anticosti island canada the cincinnati arch midwestern united states and the western continental margin vinini formation nevada united states despite clear oceanographic differences lipid biomarker profiles show similarities between these three localities major shifts in biomarker distributions of anticosti island and the vinini formation mainly hopane sterane ratios record changes in the balance of bacterial versus algal primary production bacterial contributions to sedimentary organic matter were highest during warm intervals both before and after hirnantian cooling in particular 3 methylhopanes likely sourced from aerobic methanotrophic bacteria occur in high relative abundance many times the phanerozoic average across laurentia throughout most of the interval studied 3 methylhopane abundances also reveal an overall positive relationship with paleotemperature proxies implying increased methane cycling during warm intervals these results suggest that enhanced methane cycling could have provided an important positive feedback on climate during extended intervals of early paleozoic time

chemical evolution of magmas in the proterozoic terrane of the st francois mountains southeastern missouri 2 trace element data the st francois mountains igneous complex of proterozoic age consists of hypabyssal granite plutons intruded into the overlying rhyolites of similar age melting and crystallization models of these rocks suggested by the field petrographic and major element contents are further refined using rb ba sr ree rare earth element th sc and co contents there are two groups of relatively undifferentiated plutons associated with the butler hill caldera and taum sauk area that could have formed by partial melting of lower crustal rocks the plutons associated with the butler hill caldera knoblick and silvermine granites could have formed by about 30 aggregate melting of a quartz diorite graywacke or subgraywacke the plutons associated with the taum sauk area could have formed by about 30 equilibrium melting of a subarkose or arkose more silicic rocks of the butler hill caldera could have formed by fractional crystallization the silvermine granite is internally zoned crystallization of plagioclase biotite hornblende magnetite apatite zircon sphene in a ratio of 0 70 0 10 0 15 0 04 0 005 0 003 0 007 from the least differentiated portion of the silvermine granite could have formed intermediate portions of the silvermine further crystallization of the silvermine requires more biotite ba begins to decrease and less hornblende zircon and sphene hree increase to precipitate and form the most differentiated portions also fractional crystallization of undifferentiated silvermine type magmas could have produced the sequence of butler hill breadtray graniteville granites as residual liquids respectively the early crystallizing mineral assemblage is dominated by plagioclase and biotite while the late crystallizing mineral assemblage is dominated by quartz k feldspar and lesser plagioclase the gneissoid granodiorite in the hawn park area has the mineral assemblage and composition of a cumulate derived from the silvermine granite type differentiation sequence the associated volcanic rocks could not have formed from melts of exactly the same composition of any of the associated intrusive rocks rather the volcanic rocks formed from melts of slightly different chemistry

bathymetric and isotopic evidence for a short lived late ordovician glaciation in a greenhouse period the end ordovician glaciation is distinct among phanerozoic glaciations in that co 2 levels were generally high yet major continental ice sheets accumulated on the gondwana supercontinent new oxygen isotopic data indicate substantial changes in sea water temperatures and ice volume coinciding with glacio eustatic changes in sea level reflecting the growth and decay of the gondwana ice cap major glaciation was apparently confined to the hirnantian and was 0 5 1 m y long rather than the 35 m y of earlier estimates carbon isotope values indicate significant changes in carbon cycling as the oceans changed from a state with warm saline bottom waters to a state with cold deep water circulation and then back again we believe that the changes in the carbon cycle effected a reduction in p co 2 levels in the oceans and atmosphere and thus promoted glaciation but were unable to sustain icehouse conditions in a greenhouse world

the late ordovician mass extinction abstract near the end of the late ordovician in the first of five mass extinctions in the phanerozoic about 85 of marine species died the cause was a brief glacial interval that produced two pulses of extinction the first pulse was at the beginning of the glaciation when sea level decline drained epicontinental seaways produced a harsh climate in low and mid latitudes and initiated active deep oceanic currents that aerated the deep oceans and brought nutrients and possibly toxic material up from oceanic depths following that initial pulse of extinction surviving faunas adapted to the new ecologic setting the glaciation ended suddenly and as sea level rose the climate moderated and oceanic circulation stagnated another pulse of extinction occurred the second extinction marked the end of a long interval of ecologic stasis an ecologic evolutionary unit recovery from the event took several million years but the resulting fauna had ecologic patterns similar to the fauna that had become e

models for circulation patterns in epicontinental seas applied to paleozoic facies of north america craton circulation in epicontinental seas develops in response to thermohaline wind driven and tidal motions in various climatic geographic and bathymetric settings mass balance relations in a seaway are established by the relative rates of outflow inflow freshwater and ocean water and evaporation which constrain two contrasting styles of epicontinental circulation quasietuarine circulation qec is established where rates of freshwater influx exceeds evaporation surface outflow from a seaway with qec typically is balanced by inflow of oceanic water at depth a density stratification can be established below the limits of vertical mixing a bottom layer of oxygen poor or anoxic water may develop in a seaway with or without an entrance sill if the bottom waters are derived from the oxygen minimum zone of the open ocean or if organic productivity exceeds the limits of aerobic respiration upwelling may be promoted in specific epicontinental settings with qec antiestuarine circulation aec is developed in arid climates where evaporation exceeds freshwater influx evaporative concentration in the surface layer causes oxygenated water to sink bottom outflow of denser more saline water is balanced by surface inflow from the open ocean a sill or barrier may inhibit bottom circulation in seas with aec permitting development of a basal brine layer stagnation in the brine layer may lead to oxygen depletion seas with aec commonly are characterized by extensive carbonate evaporite facies geographic and stratigraphic syntheses of lithofacies and biofacies provide the empirical basis for interpretations of seaway dynamics in ancient epicontinental settings examples from the upper ordovician maquoketa formation and upper devonian lime creek sweetland creek formations of cratonic north america are interpreted in the context of stratified qec patterns in each case oxygen poor to anoxic waters appear to have impinged along the basin slope below the margin of an oxygenated carbonate shelf upwelling along the shelf margin in the maquoketa example helps explain the distribution of phosphatic sediments a stratified aec pattern is interpreted for the gower formation silurian of eastern iowa a barrier to bottom circulation at the mouth of an embayment in the epicontinental sea resulted in a basal layer of hypersaline water devoid of shelly benthos surface water salinities increased progresively shoreward within the embayment but benthic organisms flourished where carbonate mounds built upward into the oxygenated layer

reefs during the multiple crises towards the ordovician silurian boundary anticosti island eastern canada and worldwide multiple latest ordovician rawtheyan hirnantian glaciations in central africa with concomitant global sea level lowstands and cooler restricted equatorial carbonate shelves and ramps interrupted by warmer interstadial highstands had a dramatic global impact on the tropical shallow water reef ecosystem and carbonate production with the ordovician silurian boundary strata on anticosti island as a global standard for a carbonate shelf ramp setting the latest ordovician and earliest silurian reveal three reef phases ended by three extinctions the first extinction towards the end of the rawtheyan affected the last richmondian type reefs vaureal formation mill bay member the second extinction was less pronounced ending with reefs at the base of the prinsta member ellis bay formation interpreted as the top of the normalograptus extraordinarius graptolite subzone the third and most severe extinction phase capped the laframboise patch reef complex ellis bay formation at the top of the no

high resolution early paleozoic ordovician silurian time scales for much of the geologic time scale resolving power appears to be limited by the duration of biostratigraphic zones and subzones yet these zones exploit the appearance and disappearance events of only a small fraction of the species they span computer algorithms can sequence an order of magnitude more events and make explicit the uncertainties that arise when calibrating the resulting time line an illustrative case history builds an ordovician and silurian time scale from the geologic record of the entire graptolite clade over 1900 species from more than 400 localities and sections worldwide the same approach can be applied to any stratigraphic interval with detailed biostratigraphic observations it provides the foundation for time scales and paleobiologic time lines using logic similar to graphic correlation optimizing algorithms search for a composite sequence of species first and last appearance events that minimizes the implied shortcomings of all the field observations the algorithms minimize the number of species coexistences that are implied but never observed and the net adjustments needed to bring local range charts into agreement with a single composite sequence of events after total section thicknesses have been rescaled to help normalize for variation in depositional rate mean stratigraphic thicknesses are used to scale the intervals between adjacent events in the composite sequence the resulting scaled composite sequence is converted to a relative geologic time scale by identifying stage and zone boundaries within the sequence of graptolite events this relative scale is in turn calibrated by dated volcanic ash beds that were incorporated in the search for the optimal sequence these dated events are also used to test for linearity of the scaled composite the final time scale has a potential resolving power of 0 02 0 1 m y more than ten times better than can be achieved by traditional zones graptolite zones vary widely in duration from as short as 0 1 m y to nearly 5 0 m y the mean duration of zones or zonal groupings calibrated here is 1 44 m y in the ordovician and 0 91 m y in the silurian the average uncertainty in locating zone boundaries in a single composite sequence is about one fourth of the mean zone duration the variance resulting from differences in time scales developed from differing numbers of field observations and in response to changes in the optimization criteria gives a very conservative measure of the overall robustness of the method these differences indicate an average uncertainty in the age of graptolite zone boundaries that is more nearly equal to the mean zone duration for zone duration the mean uncertainty amounts to about one half of the length of an average zone

isotopic evidence for an anomalously low oceanic sulfate concentration following end permian mass extinction abstract the cataclysmic end permian mass extinction was immediately followed by a global expansion of microbial ecosystems as demonstrated by widespread microbialite sequences disaster facies in shallow water settings here we present high resolution carbonate carbon 13 c carb and carbonate associated sulfate sulfur isotope 34 s cas records from the microbialite in the cili permian triassic p tr section in south china a stepwise decline in 13 c carb begins in the underlying skeletal limestone predating the main oceanic mass extinction and the first appearance of microbialite and reaches its nadir in the upper part of the microbialite layer the corresponding 34 s cas in the range of 17 4 to 27 4 is relatively stable in the underlying skeletal limestone and increases gradually from 2 m below the microbialite rising to a peak at the base of the microbialite two episodes of positive and negative shifts occurred within the microbialite layer and exhibit a remarkable co variance of sulfur and carbon isotope composition the large amplitude of the variation in 34 s cas as high as 7 per 100 kiloyears suggests a small oceanic sulfate reservoir size at this time furthermore the 13 c carb and 34 s cas records co vary without phase lag throughout the microbialite interval implying a marine driven c cycle in an anoxic ocean with anomalously low oceanic sulfate concentrations on the basis of a non steady state box model we argue that the oceanic sulfate concentration may have fallen to less than 15 perhaps as low as 3 of that in the modern oceans low oceanic sulfate concentration likely was the consequence of evaporite deposition and widespread anoxic sulfidic conditions prior to the main mass extinction by promoting methanogenesis and a build up of atmospheric ch 4 and co 2 low oceanic sulfate may have intensified global warming exacerbating the inimical environmental conditions of the latest permian

sterane biomarkers as indicators of palaeozoic algal evolution and extinction events abstract algae are among the oldest organisms known to inhabit the earth s biosphere with a record dating back some 2 7 ga only few marine algae produce hard parts that can be preserved over geologic time and consequently their fossil record is incomplete molecular fossils or biomarkers add complementary information to the fossil palynomorph record steroids are important constituents of eukaryotic cell membranes and are preserved in sediments as steranes c28 and c29 steranes are indicators for the presence of green and c27 steranes for the presence of red algae respectively the relative abundance of steranes allows the investigation of the fossil record for palaeozoic algal diversification and evolution in this study 500 palaeozoic rock samples representing a broad facies variety from the upper ordovician to the p t boundary were investigated for sterane compositions in addition three profiles covering the hirnantian the f f and the hangenberg event were analyzed for possible shifts in the sterane distribution associated with extinction events a sharp increase of the c28 c29 sterane ratio from 0 70 at the devonian carboniferous boundary implies a fundamental change in the green algae assemblage from more primitive mainly c29 sterane producing algae to modern c28 sterane producing algae for all investigated extinction events a pronounced but short lived rise in the c28 sterane content occurs that is attributed to an episodic increase in prasinophytes the gradual radiation of algae may have been triggered by frequent mass extinctions in the upper devonian culminating with the massive decline of acritarchs at the d c boundary the coeval rise in the c28 c29 sterane ratio indicates the presence of an non encysting algal group and coincides with the global augmentation of numerous filamentous codiacea siphonales and the rise of euspondyle and metaspondyle dasycladales

oxygen and carbon isotopes and event stratigraphy near the ordovician silurian boundary anticosti island quebec the growth and destruction of continental ice sheets in north africa and adjacent parts of gondwana during the hirnantian stage had profound influence on the sedimentary style of mixed carbonate siliciclastic sequences on anticosti island quebec canada these strata deposited in a tropical mid shelf setting show direct evidence of local sea level changes of up to 40 m after correction for tectonic and load induced subsidence this indicates maximum global glacio eustatic changes of 32 to 36 m this implies maximum ice volume of about 12 to 14 106 km3 and related changes in the oxygen isotopic composition of global sea water amounting to as little as 0 5 to 0 6 given that the oxygen isotope ratios in syn glacial samples from the anticosti sequence range from 8 9 to 2 8 18o it is not possible to clearly distinguish the effects of ice cap development from temperature and diagenetic controlled variation the strong negative shift in 13c values at the top of the ellis bay formation may indicate a pronounced increase in atmospheric co2 coincident with destruction of the late ordovician ice caps

compound specific isotopic variability in uinta basin native bitumens paleoenvironmental implications abstract we have analyzed the solvent extracts from three different types of native bitumens from the uinta basin in northeastern utah by a variety of analytical techniques including gc irms to evaluate variations in the paleodepositional environment during two periods of lake uinta deposition the gilsonite and tabbyite bitumens are associated with parachute creek member sediments deposited during a major expansion of ancient lake uinta compound specific isotopic analyses of s carotane and phytane 13 c 32 6 to 32 1 0 from these bitumens reflect input from primary photosynthetic producers such as cyanobacteria sterane 13c values 34 5 to 29 2 0 refflect contributions from lacustrine algae while extremely depleted 13c values for methylhopanes 58 1 to 61 5 0 suggest input from methanotrophic bacteria variations in the 13c values of the hopanes 51 4 to 37 7 0 imply additional input from other bacterial sources the wurtzilite bitumen was generated from the saline facies of the green river formation deposited during a later regression of lake uinta compound specific isotopic analyses of phytane 13 c 30 1 0 and steranes 13 c 29 6 to 26 7 0 from this bitumen indicate continued input from primary producers and eukaryotes the higher relative concentrations of gammacerane 13 c 26 9 0 indicate increasing input from aerobic protozoa we observed a slight enrichment in 13c in the wurtzilite extract and several biomarkers and suggest that this is a result of sulfate reducing bacteria outcompeting methanogens thereby eliminating the influence of methanotrophs in this later saline stage of deposition

molecular indicators of redox and marine photoautotroph composition in the late middle ordovician of iowa u s a abstract saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons were used to evaluate depositional redox conditions and marine photoautotroph contributions to middle caradocian strata of the central united states ia at the base of the spechts ferry member of the decorah formation 13c enriched aryl isoprenoids derivatives of green sulfur bacteria become abundant indicating the development of photic zone anoxia this is coincident with the disappearance of the organic walled microfossil gloeocapsomorpha prisca and a marked decrease in the relative abundances of cyanobacterial biomarkers the development of dysoxic to anoxic conditions and or associated changes in basin circulation potentially affected the distributions and abundances of these organisms in the overlying guttenberg member g prisca derived organic matter becomes dominant but relative cyanobacteria abundances remain low in addition the percentage total organic carbon is greater than 20 even though selected biomarker ratios pristane phytane ratios greater than 3 and homohopane indices less than 0 5 and the presence of bioturbation indicate that bottom waters were oxygenated it is suggested that deposition of g prisca affected both organic matter preservation and depositional redox conditions observed variations in redox indicators and marine photoautotroph contributions are associated with changes in siliciclastic deposition reported macrofauna turnover and with evidence for oceanic cooling and a change in circulation patterns documented in the eastern united states

late ordovician mass extinction a new perspective from stratigraphic sections in central nevada integrated sequence stratigraphic biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic analyses of three stratigraphic sections in central nevada indicate that late ordovician glaciation induced sea level fall produced diachronous stepwise faunal turnover in graptolites conodonts chitinozoans and radiolarians and also triggered a strong but transient positive 13c excursion this pattern is very different from that described for most mass extinction events

phytoplankton dynamics across the ordovician silurian boundary at low palaeolatitudes correlations with carbon isotopic and glacial events the late ordovician culminated in a major glacial period that has been related to one of the strongest mass extinctions recorded during the phanerozoic during this interval anticosti island quebec eastern canada was located at low to intermediate palaeolatitudes 15 30 s on the eastern margin of laurentia it displays a relatively complete section across the ordovician silurian o s boundary upper ordovician to lower silurian strata of anticosti studied here comprise the vaureal katian ellis bay hirnantian and becscie latest hirnantian rhuddanian formations phytoplankton dynamics inferred from the acritarch content of these strata are locally compared with new geochemical environmental proxies 13c with recent palynological data from baltica and also with phytoplankton dynamics as described from near polar high latitude localities of the gondwana region two positive excursions of the carbon isotope record have been identified in the lower and upper ellis bay formation overall phytoplankton trends are as follows 1 as with chitinozoans conodonts brachiopods and corals acritarchs from anticosti display a major turn over during the early hirnantian uppermost vaureal formation lower ellis bay formation with the appearance of taxa that exhibit silurian affinities e g tylotopalla sp ammonidium sp oppilatala sp evittia sp dilatisphaera spp high polymorphism for some common taxa is observed in the interval corresponding to the first 13c positive excursion using sequence stratigraphy this period may be related to a first glacially driven sea level drawdown corresponding to terrestrial ice sheet growth on gondwana such as recorded in morocco 2 subsequently during the late hirnantian of anticosti uppermost ellis bay formation phytoplanktic communities suffered a crisis exemplified by the disappearance of several typical large late ordovician taxa i e orthosphaeridium spp peteinosphaeridium spp large baltisphaeridum spp sacculidium sp the lower becscie strata corresponding to the time of deglaciation at the o s boundary interval only contain a low diversity assemblage dominated by large acritarchs of the genus hoegklintia and other morphologically related forms and a few tolerant and long ranging taxa e g evittia remota micrhystridium spp leiospheres despite a possible taphonomic bias in the uppermost ellis bay formation the major crisis in the late hirnantian coincides with the second 13c excursion and a second stronger glacially driven sea level fall corresponding to the time of the maximum extend of the ice sheets on gondwana 3 such phytoplankton events have also been detected in gondwanan ice center area but with typical ordovician taxa crises occurring apparently later when plotted against positive carbon isotope excursions as also observed in baltica this time lag may be linked to a basin configuration of the studied areas where environmental stress consequently differed or linked to the presence of omission surfaces coupled with preservation bias of acritarch assemblages in the uppermost ordovician strata of anticosti in addition to their biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic utility acritarchs turn out to be more specific in highlighting palaeoenvironmental conditions

maturation thermique et histoire de l enfouissement et de la generation des hydrocarbures du bassin de l archipel de mingan et de l ile d anticosti canada carbonate platform sequences of anticosti island and the mingan archipelago are early ordovician to early silurian in age with the exception of the macasty formation the sequences are impoverished in dispersed organic matter which is chiefly composed of zooclasts zooclast reflectances suggest that the upper ordovician and silurian sequences outcropping on anticosti island are entirely in the oil window but that the lower to middle ordovician beds of the mingan archipelago and their stratigraphic equivalents in the subsurface of most of anticosti island belong to the condensate zone only the deeper sequences of the southwestern sector of anticosti island are in the diagenetic dry gas zone the maximum depth of burial of sequences below now eroded silurian to devonian strata increases from 2 3 km on southwestern anticosti island to 4 5 km in the mingan archipelago a late upwarp of the precambrian basement likely allowed deeper erosion of the paleozoic strata in the vicinity of the mingan archipelago t

climate change and the selective signature of the late ordovician mass extinction selectivity patterns provide insights into the causes of ancient extinction events the late ordovician mass extinction was related to gondwanan glaciation however it is still unclear whether elevated extinction rates were attributable to record failure habitat loss or climatic cooling we examined middle ordovician early silurian north american fossil occurrences within a spatiotemporally explicit stratigraphic framework that allowed us to quantify rock record effects on a per taxon basis and assay the interplay of macrostratigraphic and macroecological variables in determining extinction risk genera that had large proportions of their observed geographic ranges affected by stratigraphic truncation or environmental shifts at the end of the katian stage were particularly hard hit the duration of the subsequent sampling gaps had little effect on extinction risk suggesting that this extinction pulse cannot be entirely attributed to rock record failure rather it was caused in part by habitat loss extinction risk at this time was also strongly influenced by the maximum paleolatitude at which a genus had previously been sampled a macroecological trait linked to thermal tolerance a model trained on the relationship between 16 explanatory variables and extinction patterns during the early katian interval substantially underestimates the extinction of exclusively tropical taxa during the late katian interval these results indicate that glacioeustatic sea level fall and tropical ocean cooling played important roles in the first pulse of the late ordovician mass extinction in laurentia

a sulfidic driver for the end ordovician mass extinction the end ordovician extinction consisted of two discrete pulses both linked in various ways to glaciation at the south pole the first phase starting just below the normalograptus extraordinarius zone particularly affected nektonic and planktonic species while the second pulse associated with the normalograptus persculptus zone was less selective glacially induced cooling and oxygenation are two of many suggested kill mechanisms for the end ordovician extinction but a general consensus is lacking we have used geochemical redox indicators such as iron speciation molybdenum concentrations pyrite framboid size distribution and sulfur isotopes to analyze the geochemistry in three key hirnantian sections these indicators reveal that reducing conditions were occasionally present at all three sites before the first pulse of the end ordovician extinction and that these conditions expanded towards the second pulse even though the n extraordinarius zone appears to have been a time of oxygenated deposition pyrite is significantly enriched in 34s in our sections as well as in sections reported from south china this suggests a widespread reduction in marine sulfate concentrations which we attribute to an increase in pyrite burial during the early hirnantian the s isotope excursion coincides with a major positive carbon isotope excursion indicating elevated rates of organic carbon burial as well we argue that euxinic conditions prevailed and intensified in the early hirnantian oceans and that a concomitant global sea level lowering pushed the chemocline deeper than the depositional setting of our sites in the n persculptus zone an interval associated with a major sea level rise our redox indicators suggests that euxinic conditions and ferruginous in some places encroached onto the continental shelves in our model the expansion of euxinic conditions during the n extraordinarius zone was generated by a reorganization of nutrient cycling during sea level fall and we argue overall that these dynamics in ocean chemistry played an important role for the end ordovician mass extinction during the first pulse of the extinction euxinia and a steepened oxygen gradient in the water column caused habitat loss for deep water benthic and nektonic organisms during the second pulse the transgression of anoxic water onto the continental shelves caused extinction in shallower habitats

biogeochemical evidence for euxinic oceans and ecological disturbance presaging the end permian mass extinction event article i nfo the permian triassic boundary event at 252 2 ma marks the largest extinction of marine fauna in the phanerozoic and there is a wide consensus that the extinction coincided with an intense oceanic anoxic event thestratotypeofthechanghsingianstage preciselyconstrainedbytheptbglobalstratotypesectionandpoint gssp and the gssp for the wuchiapingian changhsingian boundary both at meishan in southern china is well documented in respect to geochronology and the pattern of extinction here we report secular trends in bulk isotopic parameters and lipid biomarkers in a core spanning 214 m of stratigraphic section across the ptb and through the entire changhsingian interval our analysis of these data viewed in the context of relative sea level change and strontium isotopes reveals distinct shifts in paleoenvironmental conditions and profound changes in plankton ecology well before and following the biological extinction event specifically patterns of steroids and triterpenoids indicate a marine plankton community that was heavily dominated by bacteria during the late wuchiapingian middle changhsingian and early griesbachian stages secular trends in aromatic hydrocarbons diagnostic for anoxygenic green sulphur bacteria chlorobiaceae identify periods when euxinic conditions extended into the photic zone during the entire changhsingian stage here also the 15

biomarker maturity parameters the role of generation and thermal degradation abstract the effects of burial maturation upon seven molecular maturity parameters and the concentrations of individual biomarkers employed in these parameters have been studied in a well in the barents sea the depth interval between 1400 and 3000 m comprises homogenous eocene claystones with effectively uniform organic carbon content 0 4 0 6 and kerogen type hi of 100 200 mg hc g toc the quantitative biomarker data thus contain minimal interference from organic facies hydrocarbon expulsion effects and the presence of migrated hydrocarbons bulk geochemical data define the hydrocarbon generation threshold or oil window at around 2300 m molecular maturity parameters proceed to equilibrium and in some cases demonstrate inversion at high maturity these molecular changes are associated with major changes in biomarker concentrations the hopane 22 s c 31 hopane and 20 s c 29 sterane parameters proceed as a result of the balance between the relative rates of generation and thermal degradation of the different isomers increased concentrations of the individual isomers are interpreted to be the result of biomarker generation from the kerogen mainly and other macromolecular polar fractions the c 29 sterane parameter and the three parameters involving rearranged hopanes ts 29ts and diahopane operate at higher maturity levels and proceed as a result of the relative rates of thermal degradation of the compound pairs isomerisation in the bitumen may also influence the operation of the parameters involving stereoisomers but must be a relatively minor contribution

graptolite biozone correlation charts charts are presented showing the correlation of graptolite biozonations for the lower ordovician to lower devonian i e for the entire stratigraphical range of the planktonic graptoloid graptolites regions chosen are those for which the most detailed biostratigraphical studies have been undertaken for baltica average graptolite zone chron duration appears to vary from c 300000 years ludlow epoch to 2 4 ma lochkovian epoch