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Basin-scale reconstruction of euxinia and Late Devonian mass extinctions

Nature volume 615, pages 640–645 (2023)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 05 April 2023

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Abstract

The Devonian–Carboniferous transition marks a fundamental shift in the surface environment primarily related to changes in ocean–atmosphere oxidation states1,2, resulting from the continued proliferation of vascular land plants that stimulated the hydrological cycle and continental weathering3,4, glacioeustasy5,6, eutrophication and anoxic expansion in epicontinental seas3,4, and mass extinction events2,7,8. Here we present a comprehensive spatial and temporal compilation of geochemical data from 90 cores across the entire Bakken Shale (Williston Basin, North America). Our dataset allows for the detailed documentation of stepwise transgressions of toxic euxinic waters into the shallow oceans that drove a series of Late Devonian extinction events. Other Phanerozoic extinctions have also been related to the expansion of shallow-water euxinia, indicating that hydrogen sulfide toxicity was a key driver of Phanerozoic biodiversity.

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Fig. 1: Geological setting of the Famennian–Tournaisian successions of the Williston Basin, USA and Canada.
Fig. 2: Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, sea-level history and time-series geochemistry of the composite section constructed from the Sjol and Charlie Sorenson cores, North Dakota, USA.
Fig. 3: Basin-scale metal distribution heat maps.
Fig. 4: Distribution of Mo and V across an east–west-oriented dip-line through the Williston Basin during deposition of the Lower Bakken Shale.

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Data availability

All geochemical data generated here are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7379380. Splits of samples are reposited at Equinor US and George Mason University and are available upon request.

Code availability

Code (in MATLAB) for the Mo mass-balance model is available on GitHub at https://github.com/swapankrsahoo/hangenberg and on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7293587.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Equinor US. We thank K. Hlava and V. Hallam at Equinor US for providing samples and access to core data; R. Ash and J. Farquhar at the University of Maryland for ICP-MS support and access to CRS extraction lines, respectively; Z. He for valuable discussion on data analytics and usage of Trinity software (Zetaware) package; R. Womack and K. J. Gomez for ArcGiS and Ocean Data View software support; H. Jin for sharing his thesis dataset; D. Nandy for several discussions on the Bakken stratigraphy; P. Sadler and N. Hogancamp for discussion on biostratigraphy; and D. J. Over for conodont consultation for Equinor US.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Swapan K. Sahoo, Geoffrey J. Gilleaudeau, Alan J. Kaufman

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Equinor US, Houston, TX, USA

    Swapan K. Sahoo & Bruce Hart

  2. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Geoffrey J. Gilleaudeau

  3. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Kathleen Wilson

  4. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    Bruce Hart

  5. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Ben D. Barnes

  6. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Tytrice Faison & Alan J. Kaufman

  7. Gaia Paleontological Services LLC, Missouri City, TX, USA

    Andrew R. Bowman

  8. Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Toti E. Larson

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Contributions

S.K.S., G.J.G. and A.J.K. conceived the idea and concepts. Samples were collected by S.K.S., G.J.G., A.J.K. and A.B. A.J.K. performed the bulk of laboratory analyses with additional analyses performed by G.J.G. T.F. provided laboratory support. A.J.K. provided conceptual insight into biogeochemical data interpretation. B.H. provided insight into core description and general geology. B.D.B. provided insight into stratigraphic correlations and T.L. provided additional samples and insight into XRF methodology. A.B. performed initial conodont studies. S.K.S. and K.W. performed the statistical data analysis and numerical models. G.J.G., S.K.S. and A.J.K. wrote the manuscript, with important contributions from B.H. and B.D.B. All authors contributed to editing the manuscript and validating the concepts and models.

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Correspondence to Swapan K. Sahoo.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Core photographs for the Sjol core.

Photos were taken by Stratum Reservoir at the Houston facility. Each box holds approximately 1 m (3 ft.) and the numbers at the top of each row represent the core depth in feet. We have not exhibited the full MB as it is not the focus of this study (the 10809–10845 ft. interval is not presented here). Individual formations are labelled on the photographs, with dashed white lines indicating unit boundaries. The blue star denotes the presence of a carbonate-rich horizon, which is traceable basin-wide as a marker between LB2 and LB3, here shown as the blue dashed line.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Integrated stratigraphy of the Devonian–Carboniferous transition.

Bio- and lithostratigraphic constraints, along with sea-level history, climate, and comparison between the Williston Basin and the classic Rhenish Massif section of Germany. Conodont zonation schemes and abbreviations are described in Fig. 1. Sea-level history compiled based on ref. 8,66,67,68,69. Rhenish nomenclature and lithology based on refs. 7,14,66.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Location of all wells used in XRF compilation study.

Well locations from various sources in northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana are represented by coloured dots with the USA-Canada border shown at the top. The map is taken from Google Maps.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Mass-balance model results for seawater [Mo]aq changes over time in response to expansion of seafloor euxinic area (Ex).

[Mo]aq in the Williston Basin during the Hangenberg Event is estimated from Mo/TOC ratios in LB3 sediments. This is based on empirical data from modern euxinic basins where the relationship between deep-water [Mo]aq and sediment Mo/TOC is expressed with the equation Mo/TOC = 4.7389e25.457x, where x = [Mo]aq (ref. 59). To test differences in model results across the spread of Mo/TOC ratios recorded in LB3, we explored the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile Mo/TOC values (seen in box and whisker plot on the right and covered by the orange horizontal shading on the left). Maximum duration of the Hangenberg Event was estimated at ~200 kyr by ref. 60. This time frame is highlighted by the blue vertical shading.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Gridded heat maps for Mo and V concentrations across UB1 and UB2.

Mo is on the left and V is on the right. UB1 is on the bottom and UB2 is on the top. These graphics are analogous to the gridded heat maps for the LBS presented in Fig. 3. Trinity (T3) software was used to produce these maps and 3D visualization. Note that there are map artifacts of carbonate concretion-rich zones where metals are of low concentration. Although any wt.% Ca > 4.5% was removed from our calculations, some artifacts remain and should be interpreted carefully. Three white dots in each map represent three well locations (from west to east: Abe, Sjol and Charlie Sorenson).

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Contains Supplementary Discussion detailing further geologic background of the Williston Basin, framework for geochemical proxy interpretation, and additional interpretations and discussion of trace-metal data. Also contains Supplementary Table 1a–c, which details the 75 POFG well locations, 15 additional well locations and well locations for data used in Fig. 4, respectively. Also contains Supplementary Figs. 1–25, which display various items pertinent to the paper.

Supplementary Table 2

All geochemical data generated for the Sjol and Charlie Sorenson cores.

Supplementary Table 3

Compilation of all published geochemical data for the Annulata, Dasberg and Hangenberg black shales globally.

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Sahoo, S.K., Gilleaudeau, G.J., Wilson, K. et al. Basin-scale reconstruction of euxinia and Late Devonian mass extinctions. Nature 615, 640–645 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05716-2

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