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LU

Emma Hammarlund

Research team manager

LU

Sulfidic anoxia in the oceans during the Late Ordovician mass extinctions – insights from molybdenum and uranium isotopic global redox proxies

Author

  • Tais W. Dahl
  • Emma U. Hammarlund
  • Christian Mac Ørum Rasmussen
  • David P.G. Bond
  • Donald E. Canfield

Summary, in English

The Late Ordovician Mass Extinction wiped out 85% of animal species in two phases (LOME1 and LOME2). The kill mechanisms for the extinction phases are debated, but deteriorating climate and the expansion of marine anoxia appear to have been important factors. Nevertheless, the spatial extent and intensity of marine anoxia and its temporal relationship with the extinctions are not well understood. Here, we review existing global paleoredox proxy data based on molybdenum (Mo) and uranium (U) isotopes from four paleocontinents combined with new Mo isotope data from Dob's Linn, Scotland. Individually, these sedimentary records demonstrate significant redox fluctuations, but our coupled dynamic oceanic mass balance model for the evolution of the marine Mo and U cycles reveals that globally expansive ocean anoxia is best constrained by δ238U in carbonates from Anticosti Island that record expansive anoxia during LOME2. In addition, we consider periodic sulfidic anoxia developing in well-ventilated parts of the shallow oceans (e.g. during warmer periods with greater solar insolation) to have produced temporarily high seawater δ98Mo values during LOME1 in accordance with trends to high values observed in the sedimentary records. In this view, oceanic oxygen loss had a causal role during both extinction phases in the Late Ordovician.

Department/s

  • Division of Translational Cancer Research
  • EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health
  • StemTherapy: National Initiative on Stem Cells for Regenerative Therapy

Publishing year

2021

Language

English

Publication/Series

Earth-Science Reviews

Volume

220

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Geology

Keywords

  • Geochemistry
  • Global redox proxies
  • Hirnantian
  • Paleoenvironment
  • Stable isotope fractionation

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0012-8252