A long-term record of early to mid-Paleozoic marine redox change
A long-term record of early to mid-Paleozoic marine redox change
The extent to which Paleozoic oceans differed from Neoproterozoic oceans and the causal relationship between biological evolution and changing environmental conditions are heavily debated. Here, we report a nearly continuous record of seafloor redox change from the deep-water upper Cambrian to Middle Devonian Road River Group of Yukon, Canada. Bottom waters were largely anoxic in the Richardson trough during the entirety of Road River Group deposition, while independent evidence from iron speciation and Mo/U ratios show that the biogeochemical nature of anoxia changed through time. Both in Yukon and globally, Ordovician through Early Devonian anoxic waters were broadly ferruginous (nonsulfidic), with a transition toward more euxinic (sulfidic) conditions in the mid–Early Devonian (Pragian), coincident with the early diversification of vascular plants and disappearance of graptolites. This ~80-million-year interval of the Paleozoic characterized by widespread ferruginous bottom waters represents a persistence of Neoproterozoic-like marine redox conditions well into the Phanerozoic.
Sperling, Erik A.
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Melchin, Michael J.
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Fraser, Tiffani
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Stockey, Richard G.
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Farrell, Una C.
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Bhajan, Liam
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Brunoir, Tessa N.
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Cole, Devon B.
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Gill, Benjamin C.
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Lenz, Alfred
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Loydell, David K.
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Malinowski, Joseph
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Miller, Austin J.
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Plaza-Torres, Stephanie
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Bock, Beatrice
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Rooney, Alan D.
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Tecklenburg, Sabrina A.
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Vogel, Jacqueline M.
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Planavsky, Noah J.
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Strauss, Justin V.
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9 July 2021
Sperling, Erik A.
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Melchin, Michael J.
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Fraser, Tiffani
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Stockey, Richard G.
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Farrell, Una C.
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Bhajan, Liam
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Brunoir, Tessa N.
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Cole, Devon B.
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Gill, Benjamin C.
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Lenz, Alfred
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Loydell, David K.
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Malinowski, Joseph
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Miller, Austin J.
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Plaza-Torres, Stephanie
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Bock, Beatrice
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Rooney, Alan D.
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Tecklenburg, Sabrina A.
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Vogel, Jacqueline M.
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Planavsky, Noah J.
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Strauss, Justin V.
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Sperling, Erik A., Melchin, Michael J., Fraser, Tiffani, Stockey, Richard G., Farrell, Una C., Bhajan, Liam, Brunoir, Tessa N., Cole, Devon B., Gill, Benjamin C., Lenz, Alfred, Loydell, David K., Malinowski, Joseph, Miller, Austin J., Plaza-Torres, Stephanie, Bock, Beatrice, Rooney, Alan D., Tecklenburg, Sabrina A., Vogel, Jacqueline M., Planavsky, Noah J. and Strauss, Justin V.
(2021)
A long-term record of early to mid-Paleozoic marine redox change.
Science Advances, 7 (28).
(doi:10.1126/sciadv.abf4382).
Abstract
The extent to which Paleozoic oceans differed from Neoproterozoic oceans and the causal relationship between biological evolution and changing environmental conditions are heavily debated. Here, we report a nearly continuous record of seafloor redox change from the deep-water upper Cambrian to Middle Devonian Road River Group of Yukon, Canada. Bottom waters were largely anoxic in the Richardson trough during the entirety of Road River Group deposition, while independent evidence from iron speciation and Mo/U ratios show that the biogeochemical nature of anoxia changed through time. Both in Yukon and globally, Ordovician through Early Devonian anoxic waters were broadly ferruginous (nonsulfidic), with a transition toward more euxinic (sulfidic) conditions in the mid–Early Devonian (Pragian), coincident with the early diversification of vascular plants and disappearance of graptolites. This ~80-million-year interval of the Paleozoic characterized by widespread ferruginous bottom waters represents a persistence of Neoproterozoic-like marine redox conditions well into the Phanerozoic.
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sciadv.abf4382
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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 July 2021
Published date: 9 July 2021
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Local EPrints ID: 474746
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474746
ISSN: 2375-2548
PURE UUID: f5c46281-2e41-49e4-933f-e445b1be27af
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Date deposited: 02 Mar 2023 17:39
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:15
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Contributors
Author:
Erik A. Sperling
Author:
Michael J. Melchin
Author:
Tiffani Fraser
Author:
Richard G. Stockey
Author:
Una C. Farrell
Author:
Liam Bhajan
Author:
Tessa N. Brunoir
Author:
Devon B. Cole
Author:
Benjamin C. Gill
Author:
Alfred Lenz
Author:
David K. Loydell
Author:
Joseph Malinowski
Author:
Austin J. Miller
Author:
Stephanie Plaza-Torres
Author:
Beatrice Bock
Author:
Alan D. Rooney
Author:
Sabrina A. Tecklenburg
Author:
Jacqueline M. Vogel
Author:
Noah J. Planavsky
Author:
Justin V. Strauss
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