Devonian Extinctions

Devonian extinctions, a series of several global extinction events primarily affecting the marine communities of the Devonian Period (419.2 million to 359 million years ago). At present it is not possible to connect this series definitively with any single cause. It is probable that they may record a combination of several stresses—such as excessive sedimentation, rapid global warming or cooling, bolide (meteorite or comet) impacts, or massive nutrient runoff from the continents. Collectively, the extinctions (which include the Lower Zilchov, Taghanic, Kellwasser, and Hangenberg events) are responsible for the elimination of 70 to 80 percent of all animal species present during the Devonian and about 20 percent of families of Devonian animals. However, the series ranks lowest in severity of the five major extinction episodes that span geologic time.

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Throughout the Devonian there were periods of widespread hypoxic or anoxic sedimentation (that is, sedimentary events occurred that indicated little free oxygen or no oxygen at all was dissolved in Devonian seas). Some of these are known to be periods of significant extinction, and all are associated with some faunal anomaly in marine strata. These events are named according to the taxa involved. Some are associated with very wide distribution of certain taxa, such as the Monograptus uniformis, Pinacites jugleri, and Platyclymenia annulata. The Lower Zlichov Event, which occurred at the beginning of the Emsian Stage about 407.6 million years ago, is associated with the extinction of the graptoloids (a type of graptolite) and the appearance of the coiled cephalopod goniatites. Three events are very significant extinction episodes: the Taghanic Event, which formerly was used to draw the boundary between the Middle and Upper Devonian, was a marked period of extinction for goniatites, corals, and brachiopods; the Kellwasser Event saw the extinction of the beloceratid and manticoceratid goniatite groups, many conodont species, most colonial corals, several groups of trilobites, and the atrypid and pentamerid brachiopods at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary (about 372.2 million years ago); and the Hangenberg Event saw the extinction of phacopid trilobites, several groups of goniatites, and the unusual Late Devonian coiled cephalopods, the clymeniids, at the end of the Famennian Stage.

Earlier, certain writers sought to link these events with thin layers of iridium, characteristic of meteorite or bolide impacts. Evidence of a bolide impact, in the form of possible impact ejecta, has been reported in Middle Devonian deposits and is associated with a pulse of extinction. The Siljan structure in Sweden, an impact crater about 65 km (about 40 miles) in diameter, has been dated to approximately 377 million years ago. This places the impact within the error range for the estimated boundary between the Frasnian-Famennian stages and also within the Kellwasser extinction. Nevertheless, the connection between this impact and the Kellwasser Event is still being debated.

A stronger environmental link to Devonian extinctions involves the layers of black shale characteristic of low oxygen conditions. Environmental stress is thought to have taken place when high global temperatures slowed the mixing rate between the ocean’s surface and deeper layers. Bottom waters experienced a lowered reoxygenation rate, which may have resulted in the extinction of many marine species. It is still debated whether these events were caused by climatic extremes caused by an increase in the amount of solar energy, by an amplified greenhouse effect, or by processes wholly confined to Earth. For example, greater production of organic matter, perhaps owing to an increased influx of nutrients related to the colonization of landmasses by rooted plants, may have made continental seas more susceptible to anoxia.

There is also evidence that extinctions may be associated with rapid global warming or cooling. Particularly in the Late Devonian, extinction events may relate to periods of abrupt cooling associated with the development of glaciers and the substantial lowering of sea level. It has been argued that patterns of faunal change at the Kellwasser Event are consistent with global cooling.