Greenhouse to icehouse: a biostratigraphic review of latest Devonian–Mississippian glaciations and their global effects

Abstract

The latest Devonian to Mississippian interval records the long term transition from 12Devonian Greenhouse conditions into the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA). This transition was 13 punctuated by three short glaciation events in the latest Famennian, mid Tournaisian and Viséan 14 stages respectively. Primary evidence for glaciation is based on diamictite deposits and striated 15 pavements in South America, Appalachia and Africa. The aim of this review is to assess the primary 16 biostratigraphical and sedimentological data constraining diamictite deposits through this transition. 17These data are then compared to the wider record of eustasy, mass extinction and isotope stratigraphy 18 in the lower palaeolatitudes. Precise age determinations are vital to integrate high and low 19 palaeolatitude datasets and to understand the glacial control on wider global changes. Palynological 20 techniques currently provide the best biostratigraphic tool to date these glacial deposits and to 21 correlate the effects of glaciation globally. This review highlights a high degree of uncertainty in the 22 known history of early LPIA glaciation as much of the primary stratigraphic data is limited and/or 23 unpublished. Future high-resolution stratigraphic studies are needed to constrain the history of 24 glaciation both spatially and temporally through the latest Devonian and Mississippian. 25 --26The latest Devonian to Mississippian time period saw the onset of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age 27 (LPIA), marked by three short "precursor" glaciations in the latest Famennian, mid Tournaisian and 28Viséan respectively (Caputo et al. 2008; Montañez & Poulson 2010). In contrast, the earlier 29Devonian Period had globally warm climates, high sea levels and widespread reef complexes at 30 median palaeolatitudes (Copper 2002; Joachimski et al. 2009). The latest Devonian and 31Mississippian therefore record a transitionary period between these two first-order climate modes, 32 which was characterised by at least three distinct glacial episodes and long-term declining 33 atmospheric CO 2 concentrations (Berner 2006). Within this transitionary period are global oceanic 34 anoxic events associated with mass extinction, eustatic changes and isotopic excursions that 35 approximately coincide with the glaciations in the latest Famennian and mid Tournaisian (Caplan & 36 Bustin 1999; House 2002; Kaiser et al. 2007Kaiser et al. , 2008 Kaiser et al. , 2011 Kaiser et al. , 2015McGhee 2013; Sallan & 37 Coates 2010; Saltzman 2002;Streel 1986;Yao et al. 2015;). 38Evidence for LPIA glaciation in Gondwana is based on diamictite deposits and striated pavements in 39 both South America and Africa (Caputo et al. 2008;Isaacson et al. 2008). Recent work describing 40 latest Devonian diamictites in Appalachia also provides evidence for an additional glacial centre in 41 the low palaeolatitudes of Euramerica (Brezinski et al. 2008;. The precise age of these glacial 42 deposits is crucial in understanding the relationship between LPIA glaciation and it...

Reinterpreting the age of the uppermost ‘Old Red Sandstone' and Early Carboniferous in Scotland

“…But the latest Famennian Stensiö Bjerg Formation had greater seasonality with wetter wet times and drier dry times as shown by the presence of lakes and calcretes rather than a stack of vertisols. This can be attributed to the latest Famennian glaciations (as reviewed in Lakin et al 2016) that in the Borders showed the cumulative far-field response of a composited supermature calcrete representing a significant arid hiatus in excess of several hundred thousand years per calcrete horizon (Wright et al 1993). Hence the top of the Kinnesswood Formation at Pease Bay is placed at the top of the range of Remigolepis to reflect a view that the most likely condensed interval would be the latest Famennian glacial cycles.…”

Pulses of enhanced continental weathering associated with multiple Late Devonian climate perturbations: Evidence from osmium-isotope compositions

“…Increased weathering rates related to global cooling events have been recorded as having coincided with the expansion of Cenozoic ice sheets during the Eocene-Oligocene transition and Early-Mid Pliocene (e.g., Blum, 1997;Robert and Kennett, 1997;von Blanckenburg and O'Nions, 1999), as well as throughout the formation of alpine-style glaciers in the Alpine-Himalayan belt (Herman et al, 2013). Additionally, continental weathering pulses have been associated with the onset and termination of both the Late Ordovician and Fammenian glaciations, which also occurred broadly coevally with the development of widespread marine anoxia/euxinia and major faunal extinctions (e.g., Finlay et al, 2010;Kaiser et al, 2016;Lakin et al, 2016). However, whilst it is clearly possible to trigger enhanced continental weathering and/or marine anoxia during times of cooling and glacial expansion, conclusively demonstrating such a model for the Kellwasser events is inhibited by the lack of clarity regarding the precise temporal relationship between the two crises and the onset of global cooling associated with each of them.…”

“…Higher resolution temperature and weathering proxy data are needed to clarify whether the Kellwasser cooling occurred in response to elevated silicate weathering and organic-carbon burial during the two crises, or could have initiated those environmental perturbations. An additional problem with the hypothesis of glacially-induced-weathering is that although both a southern-hemisphere ice sheet and additional alpine-style glaciers of latest Famennian age are well documented by diamictite deposits in numerous South American sedimentary basins and the North American Appalachian Basin (e.g., Caputo et al, 1985;Brezinski et al, 2008;Isaacson et al, 2008;Lakin et al, 2016), similar sediments spanning the Frasnian-Famennian boundary are unknown.…”

“…The Annulata anoxic event was coeval with a major marine transgression (Johnson et al, 1985), and may also have coincided with a major pulse of volcanic activity (Percival et al, 2018). In contrast, Southern-Hemisphere glaciation, and associated continental weathering and marine regression, has been most frequently proposed as having caused the end-Famennian Hangenberg Event (e.g., Streel et al, 2000;Kaiser et al, 2016;Lakin et al, 2016). Whatever initiated the various Late Devonian crises and caused any associated extinctions, in all cases the development of marine anoxia has been proposed to have been driven by internal triggers.…”

Devonian climate, sea level and evolutionary events: an introduction

“…A list of knowledge gaps and research directions shows how far we still are from a full understanding of this undoubted first-order mass extinction and global ecosystem overturn. Lakin et al (2016) review the precise ages of uppermost FamennianVisean glacial deposits, especially of South America, and provide evidence for three 'precursor glaciations' before the onset of long-term (Upper Carboniferous -Permian) icehouse climates. They stress the current uncertainties of the mostly palynomorph-based dating, especially for the onset of glaciations, when still few diamictites were formed.…”