quantitative conodont based approaches for correlation of the late devonian kellwasser anoxic events we present the trends of absolute conodont abundance relative genera abundance and conodont morphometrics across the late devonian kellwasser horizons at three northern gondwanan epicontinental seaway locations at three contrasting depositional settings the kellwasser events are characterized by a decrease in conodont abundance high percentage of the conodont genus icriodus and morphological change of the conodont genus palmatolepis these changes can be identified in sections where the events are expressed as interbedded anoxic and oxic deposits as well as in settings characterized by continuous anoxic sediment accumulation hence these changes are interpreted as global and synchronous and can be thus used for event correlation the paradox of these results is that despite quite similar isotopic signals faunal change during the lower kellwasser event was less than during the upper kellwasser event we interpret that this discrepancy is due to an unconformity including topmost frasnian to earliest famennian at several f f sections which removed the record of peak paleoenvironmental change

stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental analysis of the frasnian famennian upper devonian boundary interval in tioga north central pennsylvania abstract two pulses of extinction in the late frasnian late devonian the lower and upper kellwasser lkw and ukw events coincided with the deposition of organic rich strata in many parts of the world including the appalachian basin here we describe two stratigraphic sections from tioga north central pennsylvania that span the frasnian famennian f f boundary interval the f f boundary and ukw equivalent strata are probably located in the covered interval between the two sections but the lkw equivalent pipe creek formation is well exposed we propose several stratigraphic revisions including raising the lock haven formation to group status and dividing it into formations as well as redefining the base of the canaseraga formation and subdividing it into members paleoenvironments at tioga range from offshore outer shelf to middle shoreface a regression follows the lkw transgression as evidenced by the sharp superposition of middle shoreface sands on outer shelf mudstones similar to large facies changes associated with the lkw in other settings the lkw is typically interpreted as representing deposition under dysoxic anoxic conditions and trace and body fossil content suggest that the pipe creek formation represents dysoxic but not permanently anoxic conditions these stratigraphic revisions and records of environmental change will provide the framework for more detailed studies of the lkw and ukw extinction events in the appalachian basin

carbon isotope excursions and sea level change implications for the frasnian famennian biotic crisis new carbon and oxygen isotope data from carbonates spanning the frasnian famennian f f boundary in the guilin area south china show a broad positive 13 c rise and fall with sharp short lived negative 13 c events this pattern is comparable to that in europe and north america the integration of the isotope stratigraphy with high resolution sequence stratigraphy corroborates the onset of the positive 13 c excursion during a third order sea level fall in the latest frasnian this can best be explained through increased burial of c org during the sea level fall brought about by increased organic productivity caused by increased continent derived nutrient flux to the ocean due to enhanced weathering through the proliferation of land plants in the devonian this scenario would have resulted in anoxic and eutrophic conditions over epicontinental seas and blooms of cyanobacteria creating a highly stressful and fragile ecosystem for oligotrophic normal marine benthic organisms and leading to their massive decline the global third order sea level fall near the end of the frasnian may have led to gas hydrate dissociation giving the negative 13 c events and caused wild climatic fluctuations the subsequent short term events of sea level rise anoxia and eutrophication in the latest part of the f f transition would have placed additional environmental stresses on the already weakened biota leading to their further demise

biogeography ecology and extinction of silurian and devonian tentaculitoids the paleogeographic history of silurian devonian tentaculitoids is assessed using qualitative data base on the recent paleogeographic reconstructions tentaculitoids expanded their geographic range from the llandovery to the wenlock and remained constant throughout the ludlow and pridoli it increased dramatically thereafter attaining a maximum in the early devonian followed by a progressive decline until their famennian extinction the variation in range is coincident with that of the normalized generic diversity of tentaculitoids and opposite to that of global sea level gotlandellites is the oldest known genus of tentaculitoids having originated in the llandovery in europe conchs of dacryoconarids gradually evolved from bilateral to radial symmetry in the early and middle devonian all occurrences of these organisms were restricted to tropical latitudes the ecological effect of the invasive species is proposed to be a considerable threat for the extinction of tentaculitoids in the late devonian possible connections between tentaculitoid migrations and paleogeographic environments have been briefly depicted

the late devonian frasnian famennian f f biotic crisis insights from δ13ccarb δ13corg and 87sr 86sr isotopic systematics a severe biotic crisis occurred during the late devonian frasnian famennian f f transition f367 myr here we present d 13 ccarb d 13 corg and 87 sr 86 sr isotopic systematics from identical samples of two sections across f f boundary in south china which directly demonstrate large and frequent climatic fluctuations 200 kyr from warming to cooling during the f f transition these climate fluctuations are interpreted to have been induced initially by increased volcanic outgassing and subsequent enhanced chemical weathering linked to the rapid expansion of vascular plants on land which would have increased riverine delivery to oceans and primary bioproductivity and subsequent burial of organic matter thereby resulting in climate cooling such large and frequent climatic fluctuations together with volcanic induced increases in nutrient e g biolimiting fe toxin sulfide and anoxic water supply and subsequent enhanced riverine fluxes and microbial bloom were likely responsible for the stepwise faunal demise of f f biotic crisis d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

mathematical modeling of microcrack growth in source rock during kerogen thermal maturation the success of hydraulic fracturing and increasing use of basin modeling packages drive the need to understand the effects of hydrocarbon hc generation on the mechanical properties of source rocks a better understanding of relationships among geological geochemical and geomechanical parameters can potentially reduce the uncertainties associated with conventional and unconventional prospect evaluation we present a simulation of microcrack growth based on a three dimensional source rock system upon thermal maturation the kerogen transforms into lighter products most of which are hcs the generated products exert excessive pore pressure to the system resulting from the effect of volume expansion this pressure is released through the expansion of pore space and formation of microcracks using linear elasticity and linear elastic fracture mechanics our model calculates microcrack sizes surface areas lengths apertures and volumes and the amount of overpressure throughout the maturation process we validated this model with experimental data from kobchenko et al 2011 and performed sensitivity analysis for both laboratory and geological settings much larger microcracks are generated in laboratory settings compared to the subsurface because of the lack of overburden resulting in secondary porosity over 100 times larger than the original organic porosity and crack lengths obtaining millimeter scale in contrast microcracks are much smaller in geological settings because of the presence of significant overburden and stiffer rock frames the crack apertures are in the submicron regime with a crack length ranging from 100 to 300 m the formation of microcracks connects isolated microscale hc pockets providing pathways for primary migration

anoxic events in the late frasnian causes of the frasnian famennian faunal crisis carbon isotope data collected from five frasnian famennian boundary sections in central europe show two positive 13 c excursions in the late frasnian 367 ma both anomalies coincided with the deposition of the bituminous lower and upper kellwasser horizons the carbon isotope patterns indicate two phases of enhanced burial and subsequent recycling of organic carbon a maximum formation of warm saline waters on the subtropical to tropical epicontinental shelves during late frasnian transgressive episodes may have induced oceanic oxygen deficits variations in the c org burial rates may have resulted in changes in the co 2 concentrations in the oceans and in the atmosphere culminating in global climatic changes we propose that the repeated co occurrences of sea level fluctuations anoxic conditions and global climatic changes during the late frasnian would affect especially the subtropical to tropical shallow water communities and reef ecosystems which were severely affected during the frasnian famennian faunal crisis

size reduction of conodonts indicates high ecological stress during the late frasnian under greenhouse climate conditions in south china abstract the late frasnian mass extinction lfme during extreme greenhouse conditions had a serious impact on biotic evolution herein based on detailed size measurements of 1783 elements of the conodont genera polygnathus and palmatolepis at the lali and duan sections in south china conodont animals underwent significant size reduction at the genus level during the late frasnian the bergmann s rule controlled the evolution of frasnian conodont animals and their size reduction during the late frasnian may have resulted from long term global warming and indicated high ecological stress before the frasnian famennian boundary ffb this phenomenon can explain why the decline of benthic faunas such as corals brachiopods or metazoan reefs predated the extinction of pelagic faunas such as conodonts in the upper kellwasser ukw event and at the ffb

iridium anomaly in the upper devonian of the canning basin western australia a moderate iridium anomaly about 20 times the local background has been found in upper devonian rocks in the canning basin it occurs at or near the frasnian famennian boundary which is known to be associated with a major massextinction event of global extent the anomaly occurs in an extremely condensed limestone sequence laid down under quiet deepwater conditions its occurrence suggests a causal link with some form of meteoroid impact moreover carbon isotope data indicate that a large reduction in biomass could have occurred at this level however the anomaly coincides with a stromatolite bed containing the fossil cyanobacterium frutexites iridium platinum iron manganese cobalt arsenic antimony and cerium are preferentially concentrated in filaments of this organism with concentrations ranging from two to five times that of the matrix it is possible that frutexites extracted these elements directly from seawater without the need for their derivation from an extraterrestrial source

anoxia pre dates frasnian famennian boundary mass extinction horizon in the great basin usa abstract major and trace metal results from three great basin stratigraphic sections with strong conodont biostratigraphy identify a distinct anoxic interval that precedes but ends approximately 100 kyr before the frasnian famennian f f mid late devonian boundary mass extinction horizon this horizon corresponds to the final and most severe step of a more protracted extinction period these results are inconsistent with data reported by others from the upper kellwasser horizon in europe which show anoxia persisting up to the f f boundary in most sections conditions returned to fully oxygenated prior to the f f boundary in the study area these data indicate that the worst part of the f f extinction was not related directly to oceanic anoxia in this region and potentially globally

mass extinctions and sea level changes abstract review of sea level changes during the big five mass extinctions and several lesser extinction events reveals that the majority coincide with large eustatic inflexions the degree of certainty with which these eustatic oscillations are known varies considerably thus the late ordovician and end cretaceous extinctions are associated with unequivocal major regressions demonstrated from numerous widespread regions in contrast the multiple high frequency sea level changes reported for the frasnian famennian crisis based on the supposed depth preferences of conodont taxa have little support from sequence stratigraphic analyses which reveals the interval to be one of highstand the end permian mass extinction has long been related to a severe first order lowstand of sea level newell n d 1967 revolutions in the history of life geol soc am spec pap 89 63 91 based primarily on the widespread absence of latest permian ammonoid markers but field evidence reveals that the interval coincides with a major transgression newell s hypothesis that marine extinctions are related to shelf habitat loss during severe regression remains tenable for the end guadalupian and end triassic extinction events but not for other crises rapid high amplitude regressive transgressive couplets are the most frequently observed eustatic changes at times of mass extinction with the majority of extinctions occurring during the transgressive pulse when anoxic bottom waters often became extensive the ultimate cause of the sea level changes is generally unclear a glacioeustatic driving mechanism can only be convincingly demonstrated for the end ordovician and end devonian events at other times it is speculated that they may relate to the widespread regional doming and subsequent collapse caused by the impingement of superplumes and ultimate eruption on the base of the lithosphere

phanerozoic large igneous provinces lips heatt haline euxinic acidic thermal transgression episodes and mass extinctions abstract the phanerozoic consists of three mutually exclusive climate states icehouse greenhouse and hothouse the greenhouse is the default state representing 70 of the phanerozoic it is characterized by a weak thermal mode pole driven deep water formation with little or no continental sea ice and weakly oxic cool water sinking near the poles nitrogen limitation characterizes greenhouse oceans in which ammonium may be the dominant bioavailable form of nitrogen the steady state greenhouse default must be forced to produce either of the other two states continent continent collision produces the intense chemical weathering that draws down atmospheric co2 and results in the icehouse state that comprises 20 25 of the phanerozoic icehouses have ice caps in contact with the ocean that produce icebergs and foster sea ice formation sea ice formation fills the ocean with highly oxic phosphorus limited icewater except for a thin layer of warm surface water in the tropics of the 23 most conspicuous mass extinctions of the phanerozoic including the late ediacaran 4 are associated with ice volume related regressions and 3 are problematic we suggest that the other 16 mass extinctions occurred when greenhouse climate was forced to hothouse climate large igneous provinces lips can trigger the heatt haline euxinic acidic thermal transgression mechanism which can force greenhouse climate to a hothouse climate state the rapid voluminous co2 emissions of lips cause a series of events that result in very slow but pronounced haline mode circulation mid latitude driven deep water formation that produces warm saline bottom water at very dry hot subtropical and middle latitudes this water upwells at the poles causing warm and moist equable climate hothouse development promotes deep sea anoxia that is generated in concert with co2 buildup and warming the spread of anoxia favors reduced nitrogen over nitrate and limited iron dust curtails nitrogen fixation this leads to dominance of primary productivity by primitive green algae and or cyanobacteria progression to euxinia that reaches the photic zone severely curtails primary productivity via poisoning even as availability of usable nitrogen plummets the result is eukaryotic mass extinction we suggest that the 16 phanerozoic mass extinctions referred to above resulted at least in part from the heatt process evidence for this relationship at 11 of the most severe extinctions is convincing data sets for the other 5 are strongly suggestive of heatt related mass extinction but do not yet have enough documentation to reliably characterize them as heatt episodes

late devonian kellwasser event mass extinction horizon in germany no geochemical evidence for a large body impact the hypothesis that the late devonian frasnian famennian mass extinction was triggered by an asteroidal impact has received renewed attention with the discovery of a late devonian ir anomaly in australia in europe the mass extinction event corresponds stratigraphically to the geographically widespread kellwasser black shale and bituminous limestone units and the biological crisis itself has been alternatively designated the kellwasser event the authors report here the results of an extensive geochemical analysis of the kellwasser stratigraphic interval in a section with exceptional conodont zonal control in the federal republic of germany no ir anomaly was found neither at the biological crisis horizon recognized in europe nor at the conodont horizon that corresponds to the ir anomaly zone reported in australia no shock metamorphosed quartz sanidine spherules or siderophile rich magnetic spherules were found which might have been indicative of a cometary impact oxygen isotope ratios show little variation across the mass extinction horizon though carbon isotope data suggest a sudden increase in phytoplankton activity they further note that the australian ir anomaly 1 is most likely not associated with a large body impact because no equivalent ir signature occurs in europe and 2 is stratigraphically above the european biological crisis horizon thus postdating the kellwasser mass extinction event

upper kellwasser carbon isotope excursion pre dates the f f boundary in the upper devonian lennard shelf carbonate system canning basin western australia abstract here we report four high resolution carbon isotope records in addition to trace element data for the frasnian famennian f f boundary interval in the lennard shelf carbonate system of the canning basin western australia this region lacks the characteristic black shale horizons associated with the global late devonian kellwasser extinction events yet still exhibits a trend in carbon isotope character similar to what has been reported from elsewhere in the world two positive 13c excursions with 3 4 amplitudes enrichments in select trace element ratios suggest that both excursions are related to periods of oxygen deprivation and perhaps increased biological productivity given the continuous and stratigraphically expanded nature of lennard shelf sections together with high density sampling constrained by both conodont biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy we observe that the upper kellwasser isotope excursion maximum 13c values and associated trace element enrichments occur distinctly lower than the f f boundary level these results have implications for the paleoenvironmental conditions leading up to the late devonian mass extinction in terms of ocean chemistry and circulation patterns this data set allows for a rare detailed look at the temporal relationship between the kellwasser events and the f f boundary and constrains the pattern of carbon isotope perturbations at the intra zonal scale

palaeokarst and its implication for the extinction event at the frasnian famennian boundary guilin south china a prominent palaeokarst within cyclic peritidal strata reported here at the frasnian famennian boundary in guilin southern china displays karren scalloped surfaces dissolution pits and pipes the last contain residual soil terra rossa and are then filled with marine sediment of the overlying strata the features of the palaeokarst depth of pipes and amount of missing strata indicate a significant and long lasting c 50 ka fall of sea level at the end of the frasnian the coincidence of the significant sea level fall with the first stage of the frasnian famennian mass extinction which mostly affected shallow marine and reef dwelling fauna and of the subsequent rapid sea level rise with the second stage of the extinction which mostly affected deeper water organisms reinforces the importance of sea level change in this mass extinction

the late devonian frasnian famennian event in south china patterns and causes of extinctions sea level changes and isotope variations abstract the frasnian famennian f f event may be recognized in various facies areas in south china in the pelagic cherty basin facies both lower and upper kellwasser events can seemingly be recognized in the deeper water carbonate facies the f f event level is well controlled in light of conodont biostratigraphy in the shallow water carbonate and mixed carbonate shale facies the f f boundary may be defined by clear taxonomic distinction in benthic fossils articulate brachiopods and corals as well as evidence from minor pelagic fossils post extinction recovery rate of benthic organisms differs in different facies settings and different taxonomic groups in open shallow water platform to inter platform depression areas brachiopods seem to recover quickly probably in the middle pa triangularis zone benthic ostracodes seem to recover at a later stage recovery of rugose corals did not happen until the uppermost famennian three steps of the f f mass extinction are postulated 1 extinction of diverse brachiopods including most atrypids 2 extinction of pelagic conodonts 3 extinction of both benthic faunas very abundant and diverse rugose corals and ostracodes and pelagic conodonts evidence of an end frasnian regression in south china is clear particularly in shallow water settings however in deeper water settings the picture is complicated with evidence of both sea level rise and fall in the latest frasnian it may be assumed from overall data so far known that crustal evolution itself and associated multiple volcanic hydrothermal activities may have mainly caused frequent and rapid climatically warming cooling alterations and sea level changes as well as marine ecologic collapse eutrophication microbial blooming seawater acidification and anoxia which may explain the f f extinction pattern in south china

the role of sea level change and marine anoxia in the frasnian famennian late devonian mass extinction johnson et al johnson j g klapper g sandberg c a 1985 devonian eustatic fluctuations in euramerica geological society of america bulletin 96 567 587 proposed one of the first explicit links between marine anoxia transgression and mass extinction for the frasnian famennian f f late devonian mass extinction this cause and effect nexus has been accepted by many but others prefer sea level fall and cooling as an extinction mechanism new facies analysis of sections in the usa and europe france germany poland and comparison with sections known from the literature in canada australia and china reveal several high frequency relative sea level changes in the late frasnian to earliest famennian extinction interval a clear signal of major transgression is seen within the early rhenana zone e g drowning of the carbonate platform in the western united states this is the base of transgressive regressive cycle iid of the johnson et al johnson j g klapper g sandberg c a 1985 devonian eustatic fluctuations in euramerica geological society of america bulletin 96 567 587 eustatic curve this was curtailed by regression and sequence boundary generation within the early linguiformis zone recorded by hardground and karstification surfaces in sections from canada to australia this major eustatic fall probably terminated platform carbonate deposition over wide areas especially in western north america the subsequent transgression in the later linguiformis zone recorded by the widespread development of organic rich shale facies is also significant because it is associated with the expansion of anoxic deposition known as the upper kellwasser event johnson et al s johnson j g klapper g sandberg c a 1985 devonian eustatic fluctuations in euramerica geological society of america bulletin 96 567 587 original transgression anoxia extinction link is thus supported although some extinction losses of platform carbonate biota during the preceeding regression cannot be ruled out conodont faunas suffered major losses during the upper kellwasser event with deep water taxa notably affected this renders unreliable any eustatic analyses utilising changes in conodont biofacies claims for a latest frasnian regression are not supported and probably reflect poor biostratigraphic dating of the early linguiformis zone sequence boundary

dynamics of anoxia abstract a simple steady state one dimensional advective diffusive model of the ocean s coupled carbon oxygen and phosphorous system is developed the model is an extension of wyrtki s 1962 model of the oxygen distribution the occurrence of anoxia requires two conditions 1 sufficiently high productivity and 2 sufficiently low oxygen concentration in the bottom water it is shown that anoxic layers are most likely to occur fairly high in the water column anoxic events may be associated with timesof vigorous thermohaline circulation in contrast to stagnation arguments often invoked the model results are used to interpret both modern and ancient oceanic anoxic events

mountain building enhanced continental weathering and organic carbon burial as major causes for climatic cooling at the frasnian famennian boundary c 376 ma the late devonian was a period of drastic environmental changes as exemplified by a major biotic crisis at the frasnian famennian boundary ffb and the onset in famennian times of glaciations across southern gondwana worldwide evidence for the coeval development of the major acadian eovariscan belt led us to propose a model relating the late frasnian famennian environmental perturbations to extensive continental uplift through two atmospheric co2 depleting mechanisms 1 the intensification of silicate weathering on the continental areas as attested by a major rise in the 87 sr 86 sr composition of sea water at the ffb and 2 the massive burial of organic carbon kellwasser events in partially confined basins due to the collisional induced reduction of equatorial oceanic communications between the palaeotethysian and panthalassic oceans this process is also suggested to have been controlled by an important primary productivity connected to an increased nutrient availability triggered by the enhanced continental run off

remote triggering of tremor along the san andreas fault in central california received 30 august 2008 accepted 16 april 2009 published 18 july 2009 1 we perform a systematic survey of triggered tremor along the san andreas fault in central california for the 31 teleseismic earthquakes with mw 7 5 since 2001 we identify 10 teleseismic events associated with clear triggered tremor about 52 of the tremor is concentrated south of parkfield near cholame where ambient tremor has been identified previously and the rest is widely distributed in the creeping section of the san andreas fault north of parkfield tremor is generally initiated and is in phase with the love wave particle velocity however the pattern becomes complicated with the arrival of the rayleigh waves and sometimes tremor continues after the passage of the surface waves we identify two cases in which tremor is triggered during the teleseismic pkp phase these results suggest that while shear stress from the passage of the love waves plays the most important role in triggering tremor in central california other factors such as dilatational stresses from the rayleigh and p waves also contribute we also examine the ambient tremor occurrence rate before and after the teleseismic events and find a transient increase of stacked tremor rate during the passage of the teleseismic surface waves this observation implies that the occurrence time of tremor is temporally advanced by the dynamic stresses of the teleseismic waves the amplitude of the teleseismic waves correlates with the occurrence of triggered tremor and the inferred tremor triggering threshold is 2 3 kpa the relatively low triggering threshold indicates that the effective stress at the tremor source region is very low most likely due to near lithostatic fluid pressure

anoxia vs productivity what controls the formation of organic carbon rich sediments and sedimentary rocks discussion the prevailing explanation for the origin of organic rich sediments and rocks invokes deposition under conditions of anoxia however recent research suggests that high primary production and not water column anoxia provides the first order control on the accumulation of organic rich facies in the modern oceans oxygen minima do not appear to have any direct effect on carbon accumulation in continental margin or marginal sea environments sediments accumulating in the modern black sea the type euxinic basin are not particularly enriched in organic matter despite the presence of an anoxic water column although a sapropel containing extremely high carbon concentrations was deposited during the holocene at a time when the basin was oxic results of a recently published co pled ocean atmosphere model indicate that during the cretaceous thermohaline and surface circulation in the oceans was similar to or more intense than modern conditions despite the overall equable climate such conditions confound the idea that circulation in the cretaceous atlantic for example was punctuated by oceanic anoxic events brought about by more sluggish circulation sporadic temporal and spatial increases in primary production reflecting changes in the behavior and or state of the ocean atmosphere system constitute a more tenable explanation for the occurrence of modern and quaternary carbon rich sediments and cretaceous black shales consequently the fundamental control on the accumulation of carbon rich facies in the oceans and marginal seas is not the presence or absence of anoxia

sequence stratigraphy of the frasnian famennian transitional strata a comparison between south china and southern belgium the sedimentological evolution of the frasnian famennian transitional strata in south china and southern belgium has been investigated a similar trend in the deepening and shallowing of the sedimentation environment occurs in the two palaeogeographically distinct areas the stratigraphic succession has been subdivided into depositional sequences a general deepening occurs in the palmatolepis rhenana conodont zone during the most rapid rise in sea level a transgressive systems tract formed this transgressive systems tract is followed by a highstand systems tract in the late p rhenana zone a major sequence boundary within the latter zone is indicated by an unconformity in intraplatform and platform areas and by a conformity in the basinal area the uppermost sediments within the late rhenana zone correspond to a lowstand systems tract a rapid flooding took place near the base of the palmatolepis linguiformis zone and dark shales and limestones formed a second sequence boundary coincides with or is very close to the frasnian famennian boundary base p triangularis zone the global extinction event at the frasnian famennian boundary coincides with an important eustatic fall in sea level the proposed stratigraphic subdivision should allow worldwide correlations of shallow and deep water deposits

black shales and carbon isotopes in pelagic sediments from the tethyan lower jurassic detailed sampling and analysis of jurassic pelagic limestones and marls from italy hungary and switzerland have enabled construction of an isotope stratigraphy across the pliensbachian toarcian boundary with resolution to the zonal level the oxygen isotope record is unremarkable the carbon isotopes however show two positive excursions one relatively minor during the pliensbachian margaritatus zone subnodosus subzone the other more major during the toarcian early falciferum zone where a maximum 13c value of 4 52 pdb is attained these intervals are known to be favoured periods of organic rich sedimentation in diverse parts of the globe and the isotopic excursions are interpreted as a response to abnormally high rates of storage of organic carbon in the sedimentary record a comparable phenomenon has been documented from the cenomanian turonian boundary in the cretaceous where it has been referred to the influence of an oceanic anoxic event some italian sections spanning this lower jurassic interval contain organic rich shales in the falciferum zone the isotopic signatures from their included locally manganiferous carbonate betray a considerable diagenetic overprint and they cannot therefore be incorporated in a composite isotopic curve carbon isotopes from the organic carbon itself are extremely negative falling to 33 pdb and in one section examined in detail correlate with the calcium carbonate content of the shales they may reflect a partial change to a non calcified planktonic biota during deposition of this lime poor interval possibly responding to upwelling and increased fertility of near surface waters the onset of upwelling may have been as early as spinatum tenuicostatum zone time that is at the pliensbachian toarcian boundary

carbon isotopic evidence for the associations of decreasing atmospheric co2level with the frasnian famennian mass extinction 1 a perturbation of the global carbon cycle has often been used for interpreting the frasnian famennian f f mass extinction however the changes of atmospheric co2 level pco2 during this interval are much debatable to illustrate the carbon cycle during f f transition paired inorganic 13ccarb and organic 13corg carbon isotope analyses were carried out on two late devonian carbonate sequences dongcun and yangdi from south china the larger amplitude shift of 13corg compared to 13ccarb and its resultant 13c 13c 13ccarb 13corg decrease indicate decreased atmospheric co2level around the f f boundary the onset ofpco2 level decrease predates that of marine regressions which coincide with the beginning of conodont extinctions suggesting that temperature decrease induced by decreased greenhouse effect of atmospheric co2might have contributed to the f f mass extinction

new 40ar 39ar and k ar ages of the viluy traps eastern siberia further evidence for a relationship with the frasnian famennian mass extinction abstract we present here new ages combining both k ar and 40 ar 39 ar techniques reinforcing the possible link between the viluy traps eastern siberia with the late devonian mass extinctions the viluy traps also referred to as the yakutsk large igneous province are associated with the breakup of the eastern margin of the siberian platform as a triple junction rift system with volcanic outcropping along the lena markha and viluy rivers and an initial volume of volcanic products of about one million cubic kilometers k ar ages obtained on seven samples from the viluy rift display values ranging from 366 5 to 381 5 ma with a mean age of 374 5 ma our new 40 ar 39 ar results display well defined step heating plateau ages ranging from 362 3 3 4 to 379 7 3 5 ma although most k ar and 40 ar 39 ar ages agree within about 1 uncertainty which reinforces the validity of the k ar ages obtained with the cassignol and gillot unspiked technique even in the paleozoic a slightly clearer scenario appears when only the 40 ar 39 ar ages are considered effectively they cluster in two different groups with weighted mean ages of 364 4 1 7 and 376 7 1 7 ma these ages support a multi phases emplacement of the viluy traps as is the case for many continental flood basalts because the age of the first volcanic phase is undistinguishable from recent determinations of the age of the frasnian famennian boundary our results further strengthen the hypothesis of a causal relationship between the two events the second phase of emplacement of the viluy traps occurred at the end of the devonian apparently slightly before the devonian carboniferous boundary finally except for the ordovician silurian extinction which remains to be associated with a volcanic province all major phanerozoic mass extinctions have been correlated with the emplacement of a cfb thereby reinforcing the possible causal link between these events