Osmium and lithium isotope evidence for weathering feedbacks linked to orbitally paced organic carbon burial and Silurian glaciations

The Ordovician (∼487 to 443 Ma) ended with the formation of extensive Southern Hemisphere ice sheets, known as the Hirnantian glaciation, and the second largest mass extinction in Earth History. It was followed by the Silurian (∼443 to 419 Ma), one of the most climatically unstable periods of the Phanerozoic as evidenced by several large scale (> 5‰) carbon isotope (δ13C) perturbations associated with further extinction events. Despite several decades of research, the cause of these environmental instabilities remains enigmatic. Here, we provide osmium (187Os/188Os) and lithium (δ7Li) isotope measurements of marine sedimentary rocks that cover four Silurian δ13C excursions. Osmium and Li isotope records resemble those previously recorded for the Hirnantian glaciation suggesting a similar causal mechanism. When combined with a new dynamic carbon-osmium-lithium biogeochemical model we suggest that astronomical forcing of the marine organic carbon cycle, as opposed to a decline in volcanic arc degassing or the rise of early land plants, resulted in drawdown of atmospheric CO2, triggering continental scale glaciation, intense global cooling and eustatic sea-level lows recognised in the geological record. Lower atmospheric pCO2 and temperatures during the Hirnantian and Silurian glaciations suppressed CO2 removal by silicate weathering, driving 187Os/188Os and δ7Li variability, supporting the existence of climate-regulating feedbacks

Refining the Early Devonian time scale using Milankovitch cyclicity in Lochkovian–Pragian sediments (Prague Synform, Czech Republic)

The Early Devonian geological time scale (base of the Devonian at , Becker et al., 2012) suffers from poor age control, with associated large uncertainties between 2.5 and 4.2 Myr on the stage boundaries. Identifying orbital cycles from sedimentary successions can serve as a very powerful chronometer to test and, where appropriate, improve age models. Here, we focus on the Lochkovian and Pragian, the two lowermost Devonian stages. High-resolution magnetic susceptibility ( – 5 to 10 cm sampling interval) and gamma ray spectrometry (GRS – 25 to 50 cm sampling interval) records were gathered from two main limestone sections, Požár-CS (118 m, spanning the Lochkov and Praha Formations) and Pod Barrandovem (174 m; Praha Formation), both in the Czech Republic. An additional section (Branžovy, 65 m, Praha Formation) was sampled for GRS (every 50 cm). The and GRS records are very similar, so variations are driven by variations in the samples' paramagnetic clay mineral content, reflecting changes in detrital input. Therefore, climatic variations are very likely captured in our records. Multiple spectral analysis and statistical techniques such as: Continuous Wavelet Transform, Evolutive Harmonic Analysis, Multi-taper method and Average Spectral Misfit, were used in concert to reach an optimal astronomical interpretation. The Požár-CS section shows distinctly varying sediment accumulation rates. The Lochkovian (essentially equivalent to the Lochkov Formation (Fm.)) is interpreted to include a total of nineteen 405 kyr eccentricity cycles, constraining its duration to . The Praha Fm. includes fourteen 405 kyr eccentricity cycles in the three sampled sections, while the Pragian Stage only includes about four 405 kyr eccentricity cycles, thus exhibiting durations of and respectively. Because the Lochkov Fm. contains an interval with very low sediment accumulation rate and because the Praha Fm. was cross-validated in three different sections, the uncertainty in the duration of the Lochkov Fm. and the Lochkovian is larger than that of the Praha Fm. and Pragian. The new floating time scales for the Lochkovian and Pragian stages have an unprecedented precision, with reduction in the uncertainty by a factor of 1.7 for the Lochkovian and of ∼6 for the Pragian. Furthermore, longer orbital modulation cycles are also identified with periodicities of ∼1000 kyr and 2000–2500 kyr

Gamma-ray and magnetic susceptibility correlation across a Frasnian carbonate platform and the search for "punctata" equivalents in stromatoporoid-coral limestone facies of Moravia

A comparison of the HV-105 Křtiny gamma-ray log (carbonate platform margin and proximal slope, thickness of Frasnian beds ~270 m) with the three times thinner gamma-ray spectrometric section from Mokrá (inner platform, Frasnian ~93.5m) has significantly increased the reliability of stratigraphic correlation between the outer and inner platform areas, i.e. it has allowed strengthening of the detailed links between conodont-bearing and barren sequences. The detailed gamma-ray and magnetic susceptibility patterns also provide promising clues which might help trace the "punctata Zone" stratigraphic equivalents, located far in the interior of the platform stromatoporoid-coral facies

Millennial to Million year cyclicities from the Lower Devonian

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Oxygen and carbon stable isotope records of the Lochkovian-Pragian boundary interval from the Prague Basin (Lower Devonian, Czech Republic)

Climate changes close to the Lochkovian-Pragian Event are still widely discussed. Carbonate δ18O and δ13C and conodont apatite δ18O from medial to distal carbonate ramp sediments were analysed to provide further stable isotope data from the stratotype area in the Prague Basin. The uppermost Silurian to lower Emsian δ18O trends are put into an updated conodont biostratigraphy framework. Carbonate δ18O and δ13C are discussed in the context of facies-dependent diagenesis. The δ13C pattern measured from different sections enables the correlation of intervals with development of different facies inside the Prague Basin. Positive δ13C shifts are often coupled with trends of decreasing computed gamma-ray (CGR) values interpreted as regressions, whereas negative δ13C shifts commonly coincide with opposite trends in CGR. The Lochkovian-Pragian boundary interval coincided with an increase in carbonate δ13C and an increase in the δ18O of conodont apatite and carbonate, which we interpret as consequence of climate cooling. Generally, the Lochkovian was warmer than the Pragian and earliest Emsian

The Pragian in the Prague Synform: Questions, Duration and Global correlation.

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