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Geology

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Anoxia

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Global Seawater Redox Trends During The Late Devonian Mass Extinction Detected Using U Isotopes Of Marine Carbonates, David Allen White Feb 2018

Global Seawater Redox Trends During The Late Devonian Mass Extinction Detected Using U Isotopes Of Marine Carbonates, David Allen White

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Late Devonian extinction ranks as one of the ‘big five’ Phanerozoic extinctions affecting up to 80% of marine species and occurred during five distinct pulses spanning /or widespread marine anoxia. We test the marine anoxia hypothesis by analyzing uranium isotopes (δ238U) across a ~7 My interval of well-dated Upper Devonian marine carbonates from the Devil’s Gate Limestone in Nevada, USA.

The measured δ238U curve shows no co-variation with local anoxic facies, water-depth dependent facies changes, redox-sensitive metals, TOC, or diagnostic elemental ratios indicating the δ238U curve was not controlled by local depositional or …


Abrupt Ocean Anoxia During The Late Ordovician Mass Extinction Detected Using Uranium Isotopes Of Marine Carbonates, Rickey Bartlett, Maya Elrick, Yemane Asmerom, Viorel Atudorei Nov 2016

Abrupt Ocean Anoxia During The Late Ordovician Mass Extinction Detected Using Uranium Isotopes Of Marine Carbonates, Rickey Bartlett, Maya Elrick, Yemane Asmerom, Viorel Atudorei

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Ordovician witnessed an explosion in marine biodiversity punctuated by the first of the ‘big-5’ Phanerozoic mass extinctions, the Late Ordovician mass extinction (LOME). The LOME consists of two discrete pulses occurring at the beginning and end of the Hirnantian. Lithologic and geochemical evidence suggests widespread marine anoxia triggered the second LOME pulse; however, most of these redox proxies record local bottom water or porewater conditions rather than global seawater conditions. To evaluate global redox trends, we utilize uranium (U) isotopes and trace element geochemistry of marine carbonates as a global marine redox proxy.

Bulk carbonate samples were collected from …