No abstract

No abstract

The end-Devonian was a critical interval in Earth history recording the transition from the Early Paleozoic greenhouse climate to the Late Paleozoic icehouse climate. A mass extinction at this time (the Hangenberg extinction) eliminated ~21% of genera and ~16% of families of marine invertebrates, although its causes remain poorly understood. The marine nitrogen cycle is intimately related to the nutrient status of seawater, microbial community composition, and the redox condition of the oceans, and, thus, it may provide insights into the mechanism(s) of the end-Devonian mass extinction and climate change. Here, we analyzed high-stratigraphicresolution bulk-sediment nitrogen isotope variation ( 15 N bulk) in three sections from South China: (1) Long'an, an isolated carbonate platform section, (2) Qilinzhai, a shallow-water carbonate platform section between the Yangtze Oldland and the Youjiang Trough, and (3) Malanbian, a shallow-water carbonate platform section between the Yangtze and Cathaysia oldlands and distant from deep-water areas. Our  15 N bulk records show a major perturbation to the marine nitrogen cycle in the Middle Si. praesulcata Zone, which is marked by a decline in  15 N bullk from +4‰ to 0‰