Did Cooling Oceans Trigger Ordovician Biodiversification? Evidence from Conodont Thermometry
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 · Australian National University · +3 more institutions
Abstract
The Ordovician Period, long considered a supergreenhouse state, saw one of the greatest radiations of life in Earth's history. Previous temperature estimates of up to approximately 70 degrees C have spawned controversial speculation that the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater must have evolved over geological time. We present a very different global climate record determined by ion microprobe oxygen isotope analyses of Early Ordovician-Silurian conodonts. This record shows a steady cooling trend through the Early Ordovician reaching modern equatorial temperatures that were sustained throughout the Middle and Late Ordovician. This favorable climate regime implies not only that the oxygen isotopic…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 34.03
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 31
Authors
5- JTJulie TrotterCorresponding
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Victoria
- ISIan S. Williams
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Victoria
- CRChristopher R. Barnes
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Victoria
- CLChristophe Lécuyer
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Victoria
- RSRobert S. Nicoll
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Australian National University, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Victoria
Topics & keywords
- Ordovician
- Conodont
- Seawater
- Geology
- Paleontology
- Isotopes of oxygen
- Period (music)
- Sea level
- Life below water