Taghanic_Event

Taghanic event

Taghanic event

Extinction event in the Middle Devonian


The Taghanic event (Taghanic unconformity, Taghanic crisis or Taghanic onlap) was an extinction event that occurred about 386 million years ago during the Givetian faunal stage of the Middle Devonian geologic period in the Paleozoic era.[1] It was caused by hypoxia from an anoxic event. The event had a period in which dissolved oxygen in the Earth's oceans was depleted. The Taghanic event caused a very high death rate of corals. The loss of the coral reefs caused a high loss of animals that lived in and around the reefs. The extinction rate has been placed between 28.5 and 36%, making the event the 8th largest extinction event recorded.[2][3][4] The reduced oxygen levels resulted from a period of global warming caused by Milankovitch cycles. In the Taghanic event sea levels were higher.[5] After the Taghanic Event, sea life recovered in the Frasnian faunal stage starting 382.7 million years ago. Two other events near this period were the Kellwasser event (372 ma) and the Hangenberg event (359 ma).[6][5][7]

Quick Facts Taghanic event 386 million years ago in Middle Devonian period ...

Extinctions

The Taghanic event at the Givetian/Frasnian boundary caused many extinctions, including the disappearance of about 50% of coral genera. Brachiopods Mollusca lost about six families of species. About 47% Stromatoporoid sea sponges genera disappeared. Many Bryozoa were also lost. The population of Ammonoids, Tabulata, Trilobites, and Rugosa were reduced.[8] Thamnopora boloniensis, a tabulate coral, became extinct.[9]

Sediments

Old Red Sandstone continent sediments have been studied to evaluate the Taghanic extinction event. The Taghanic event was discovered by studying sudden sedimentary layer changes, faunal changes, and palaeobiogeographic events.[6] The Taghanic event is found in the Tully Formation and Marcellus Formation in New York and Pennsylvania, including the Windom shale there. The Mahantango Formation in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland also record the Taghanic event. The Taghanic event has been found in Tafilalt, Morocco in the eastern Anti-Atlas mountain range. The Orcadian Basin in Scotland has exposed rocks from the Taghanic event.[10]

Taghanic onlap

The period of global warming that caused the Taghanic event melted ice caps causing sea levels to rise. This caused the Taghanic onlap, the submergence of land by the advancing sea. The advancing sea laid down strata deposits on the seafloor. The flooding of what is now the southwestern United States created a shallow marine environment.[3][11][12]

Marine extinction intensity during Phanerozoic
%
Millions of years ago
The Taghanic event was just before the Late Devonian (Late D) event. The chart gives a comparison of the extinction event to other mass extinction events in Earth's history. Plotted is the extinction intensity, calculated from marine genera.

See also


References

  1. Marshall, John E. A.; Brown, John F.; Astin, Timothy R. (April 15, 2011). "Recognising the Taghanic Crisis in the Devonian terrestrial environment and its implications for understanding land–sea interactions". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 304 (1): 165–183. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.10.016 via ScienceDirect.
  2. Johnson, J. G. (1970). "Taghanic Onlap and the End of North American Devonian Provinciality". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 81 (7): 2077. Bibcode:1970GSAB...81.2077J. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[2077:TOATEO]2.0.CO;2.
  3. McGhee Jr GR, Clapham ME, Sheehan PM, Bottjer DJ, Droser ML (January 2013). "A new ecological-severity ranking of major Phanerozoic biodiversity crises". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 370: 260–270. Bibcode:2013PPP...370..260M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.12.019. ISSN 0031-0182.
  4. Helling, Stephan; Becker, Ralph Thomas (September 1, 2022). "Two new species of Gondwanaspis (Trilobita, Odontopleurida) from the Givetian-Frasnian transition of the northern Rhenish Massif (Germany)". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 102 (3): 697–709. doi:10.1007/s12549-022-00525-3.
  5. Bridge, Tom C. L.; Baird, Andrew H.; Pandolfi, John M.; McWilliam, Michael J.; Zapalski, Mikołaj K. (January 26, 2022). "Functional consequences of Palaeozoic reef collapse". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 1386. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05154-6. PMC 8792005. PMID 35082318.
  6. Aboussalam, Z. Sarah; Becker, R. Thomas (April 15, 2011). "The global Taghanic Biocrisis (Givetian) in the eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 304 (1): 136–164. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.10.015 via ScienceDirect.
  7. Graham, John Paul. "Devonian carbonate rocks , Plate8.jpg". ir.library.oregonstate.edu.

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