! "# $ % & % ' % ! !' " # $$ %&'& ( "#) *# +, ( !, &$ ' "# ' '% $$(' - , -. ' #"! " $ /0& $ Anatomy of Middle Devonian Faunal Turnover in Eastern North America: Implications for Global Bioevents at the Eifelian-Givetian Stage Boundary A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School University of Cincinnati in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geology McMicken College of Arts and Sciences November 2010 By Michael K. DeSantis B.A., Boston University, 1992 M.S., University of Idaho, 1996 Committee Chair: Carlton E. Brett, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The late Eifelian-earliest Givetian interval (Middle Devonian) represents a time of significant faunal turnover both in the eastern North America and globally, herein termed the Late Eifelian Biocrisis. A synthesis of biostratigraphic, K-bentonite, and sequence stratigraphic data, indicates that physical and biotic events in the Appalachian foreland basin sections in New York are coeval with the predominantly carbonate platform sections of the adjacent midcontinent. The succession includes portions of three distinctive benthic faunas or ecological-evolutionary sub- units (EESUs): ‘Onondaga’, ‘lower Marcellus’, and ‘Hamilton’. In the northern Appalachian Basin in New York the boundaries of these bioevents show evidence of abrupt, widespread extinctions/extirpations, immigration and ecological restructuring. Regional analysis of faunas shows that EESUs comparable to the northern Appalachian Basin succession are recognizable within the coeval carbonate ramp and platform strata of central Ohio and southeastern Indiana, as well as in the Michigan Basin. However, faunas of the Wabash Platform area of central Ohio and southeastern Indiana show slightly higher persistence compared to those of the Appalachian Basin, indicating that the Wabash Platform served as a refuge for species extirpated from the Appalachian Basin by environmental changes brought on by tectonic and eustatic deepening. This interval can be subdivided into three discrete bioevents, with the last being the widely recognized Kaák Event in the ensensis conodont Zone near the Eifelian-Givetian stage boundary. The earlier bioevents, within the australis to eiflius Zones, are defined by striking faunal changes in the Appalachian Basin and coeval formations in adjacent areas of eastern North America. The Bakoven Event (australis conodont Zone), is marked by a significant reduction in faunal diversity in the uppermost Onondaga Limestone and overlying Bakoven Black Shale that is associated with eustatic/tectonic deepening and widespread hypoxia. The iii Stony Hollow Event (kockelianus-eiflius Zone) is marked by an incursion of tropical Old World Realm Cordilleran Province taxa, including distinctive atrypid brachiopods, corals, and bivalves, into the subtropical to temperate shelf region of eastern North America. The Stony Hollow bioevent appears to be associated with altered current patterns and/or climatic regime during the kockelianus-eiflius Zone interval. Approximately coeval formations in Europe and Morocco show the probable signatures of these events, indicating that the Bakoven and/or Stony Hollow may be global-scale events. In particular, the late Eifelian successions in the Eifel and Rhenish Schiefergebirge areas of Germany, and in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain show evidence for faunal turnover during the interval of the australis-kockelianus Zones. Both the Bakoven and Stony Hollow and the terminal Kaák events appear to be associated with changes in climatic gradients and major disturbances in the global carbon cycle. iv v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many, many people helped in various ways, shapes and forms with this project. I would particularly like to thank my advisor Dr. Carl Brett; who is the reason I moved to the mid-west in the first place, and who has been a mentor and friend throughout this long process. I would also like to express my appreciation to the other members of my committee: Dr. Warren Huff, Dr. Tom Algeo, Dr. Dave Meyer, and Dr. Arnold Miller, and my outside committee member Dr. Charles Ver Straeten at the New York State Museum for their support. Thanks also to fellow UC Geology graduate students, especially Alex Bartholomew, Pat McLaughlin, and Sean Cornell for help with field and lab work, discussion of aspects of this study and geology in general. Thanks also to Rick Bullard for showing me some of the local color (in addition to geology) of SE Ohio/N. Kentucky; particularly the fun times out on the sporting clays course, as well as shooting trap and sighting in rifles down at “Ed’s field”. Keep your powder dry, amigo! For contributions to fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and various other aspects of this project I’d like to thank, in no particular order: Dr. P. Bultynck for revisiting and confirming identifications of conodonts from the base of the Rogers City Formation. Dr. R.T. Becker for providing additional litho- and biostratigraphic details of the Hassi Mouf section in Morocco. Dr. D. J. Over for processing and identifying conodonts from samples collected from several central Ohio localities. Dr. George Shaw, who answered my numerous questions regarding his method for analyzing apatites and generously provided me with some of his apatite calibration standard. The staff at the Microscopic Analysis Research Center at Ohio State University (John Olesik, Anthony Lutton, Lisa Fay) for helping to adapt Dr. Shaw’s analysis method, and teaching me how to 'drive' the ICP-MS. The staff of the Ohio Geological Survey’s Horace R. Collins vi Laboratory (Ron Rhea and Greg Schumacher) and of the Ontario Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Library for access to drill cores. The many quarry operators and property owners who allowed access onto their land – in particular John Chester, Jr. and family, of Columbus, OH who always greeted us cheerfully, even when we showed up unexpectedly with a large group of students. Last, but by no means least, I thank my parents, Mark and Gail DeSantis for your unflagging support of all my endeavours throughout the years. You gave me the freedom to steer my own course through life, while providing just the right amount of advice and guidance. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: Persistent Depositional Sequences and Bioevents in the Eifelian (early Middle Devonian) of eastern Laurentia: North American evidence of the Kaák Events? ........................ 5 Abstract.........................................................................................................................................5 1.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................6 1.2. Study Approach .....................................................................................................................8 1.2.1. Study area ....................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.2. Units examined................................................................................................................ 9 1.3. Biostratigraphy.......................................................................................................................9 1.3.1. Conodont biostratigraphy............................................................................................. 11 1.3.1.1. costatus Zone .......................................................................................................... 11 1.3.1.2. australis Zone.......................................................................................................... 12 1.3.1.3. kockelianus / eiflius Zones ...................................................................................... 14 1.3.1.4. ensensis / hemiansatus Zones.................................................................................. 15 1.3.2. Ammonoid biostratigraphy ........................................................................................... 16 1.3.3. Dacryoconarid biostratigraphy .................................................................................... 18 1.4. K-Bentonite Event Stratigraphy...........................................................................................19 1.5. Regional Stratigraphy ..........................................................................................................20 1.5.1. New York....................................................................................................................... 20 1.5.2. Ontario, Canada ........................................................................................................... 26 1.5.2.1. Niagara Peninsula-Selkirk Area............................................................................. 27 1.5.2.2. London-Sarnia Area................................................................................................ 28 1.5.3. Ohio............................................................................................................................... 31 1.5.3.1. Columbus/Delaware ............................................................................................... 33 1.5.3.2. Bloomville ............................................................................................................... 38 1.5.3.3.