When did the Late Devonian mass extinction occur?
The Late Devonian mass extinction struck Earth around 372 million years ago. It marks the boundary between the Frasnian and Famennian ages of the Late Devonian period.
The Late Devonian mass extinction struck Earth around 372 million years ago. It marks the boundary between the Frasnian and Famennian ages of the Late Devonian period.
Estimates suggest approximately 40% of marine species vanished during this interval. This crisis ranks as one of the Big Five most severe mass extinctions in history.
Stromatoporoid sponges and rugose and tabulate corals disappeared almost completely from the fossil record. Following this collapse, Famennian reefs became dominated instead by siliceous sponges and calcifying bacteria.
Magmatism suggested as a cause emerged prominently in 2002 research papers regarding the Viluy Large igneous province. Volcanic rocks dyke belts and sills cover more than 320,000 square kilometers containing over one million cubic kilometers of magmatic material.
An asteroid impact created the Siljan Ring either just before or coinciding with the Kellwasser event according to some researchers. Most impact craters like the Kellwasser-aged Alamo cannot generally be dated precisely enough to link them directly to the crisis.