Paleozoic-Mesozoic Eustatic Changes and Mass Extinctions: New Insights from Event Interpretation.

Dmitry A. Ruban

doi:10.3390/life10110281

Abstract

Recent eustatic reconstructions allow for reconsidering the relationships between the fifteen Paleozoic–Mesozoic mass extinctions (mid-Cambrian, end-Ordovician, Llandovery/Wenlock, Late Devonian, Devonian/Carboniferous, mid-Carboniferous, end-Guadalupian, end-Permian, two mid-Triassic, end-Triassic, Early Jurassic, Jurassic/Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and end-Cretaceous extinctions) and global sea-level changes. The relationships between eustatic rises/falls and period-long eustatic trends are examined. Many eustatic events at the mass extinction intervals were not anomalous. Nonetheless, the majority of the considered mass extinctions coincided with either interruptions or changes in the ongoing eustatic trends. It cannot be excluded that such interruptions and changes could have facilitated or even triggered biodiversity losses in the marine realm.

Highlights

During the whole Phanerozoic, mass extinctions stressed the marine biota many times. They triggered disappearances of numerous species, genera, families, and even high-order groups of marine organisms, and they were often associated with outstanding environmental catastrophes such as global events of anoxia and euxinia, unusual warming and planetary-scale glaciations, massive volcanism, and extraterrestrial impacts
For the purposes of the present study, the newest version of the Paleozoic–Mesozoic eustatic reconstruction is taken into consideration
A really severe mass extinction marked the end of the Ordovician, and it is known as the Hirnantian event [41,42,68,69,70]

Summary

Introduction

During the whole Phanerozoic, mass extinctions stressed the marine biota many times. They triggered disappearances of numerous species, genera, families, and even high-order groups of marine organisms, and they were often associated with outstanding environmental catastrophes such as global events of anoxia and euxinia, unusual warming and planetary-scale glaciations, massive volcanism, and extraterrestrial impacts. The relevant knowledge is huge, and it continues to grow. This knowledge growth is indivisible from the progress in the understanding of marine (paleo)ecosystems and (paleo)environments, both at the global and local scales. Hundreds of other researchers have contributed substantially and focused on particular catastrophic events, fossil groups, or extinction factors

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Conclusion