Invited review article
Late Devonian paleogeography in the framework of global plate tectonics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2020.103129Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The paper presents 10 paleogeographic Late Devonian maps.

  • Late Devonian was a time of the onset of Variscan orogeny. Spreading of the Paleotethys Ocean was the main extensional event.

  • Late Devonian rifting was associated with volcanic activity, especially prominent in the Viluy rift in Siberia.

  • The plate tectonic events could have influenced the extinction of biotas.

Abstract

This paper presents Late Devonian (Frasnian–Famennian) global and regional paleogeographic maps displaying present day coastlines, tectonic elements' boundaries, subductions, rifts, spreading centers, transform faults, paleogeographic configuration and volcanism 370 million years ago. The regional maps illustrate the paleoenvironment and paleolithofacies distribution.

The Late Devonian was a time of the onset and development of a major collisional event, the Variscan orogeny. The trench-pulling (or slab-pull) effect of the north dipping subduction, which developed along the Laurussia margin, caused the creation of the back-arc Rheno-Hercynian basin, as well as the transfer of tectonic elements. These tectonic elements included Saxothuringian, Southern Proto-Carpathian and Balkan terranes. The Antler and Ellesmerian orogenies constituted major collisional events in North America.

The spreading of the Paleotethys Ocean constituted the main extensional event. This spreading is associated with the movement of tectonic elements towards Laurussia, Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan. In addition, a branch of the Paleotethys Ocean was opened between South China and Gondwana, during the Late Devonian times. The spreading was displayed along the proto-Andean margin of western Gondwana and is thought to have opened the newly proposed Chilean Ocean. The development of major rift systems took place throughout Laurussia and Siberia. Late Devonian rifting was associated with volcanic activity, especially prominent in the Viluy rift in Siberia. The deposition, during the Late Devonian time, is characterized by the existence of large carbonate platforms with reefs on large continents and synorogenic flysch in collisional areas. The sea-level dropped towards the Devonian- Carboniferous boundary. The climate was undergoing change from greenhouse to icehouse.

The following plate tectonic events could have influenced the extinction of biotas at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary:

  • 1)

    The very extensive basaltic volcanism in Laurussia and Siberian and along the arcs.

  • 2)

    The closure of the Rheic Ocean and the development of the Variscan orogeny.

  • 3)

    Intensive spreading in the Paleotethys and the development of numerous subductions and volcanic arcs.

These events resembled a transition from a rift to a drift phase, during the Permian–Mesozoic break-up of Pangaea. This break-up was associated with other biota extinctions.

Introduction

The Devonian maps (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 10) are the continuance of previously published paleogeographic and plate tectonic maps of the Phanerozoic, showing global paleogeography and plate tectonic evolution (Golonka, 2007b, Golonka, 2011; Golonka and Gawęda, 2012). The older versions (e. g. Gehrels and Berg, 1994, Golonka et al., 2006) are still in use (e.g. Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2013; Huang et al., 2018; Racki et al., 2018; Racki, 2020b), but newly corrected and improved global maps were constructed recently. The base maps display present day coastlines, tectonic elements boundaries, sutures, spreading centers and selected transform faults. They were constructed using the PALEOMAP (e. g. Scotese and McKerrow, 1990) PLATES (e. g. Lawver and Scotese, 1987; Lawver et al., 2011) and GPLATES software (Cao et al., 2017; Young et al., 2019).

The definitions of mapped time slices were presented by Golonka and Kiessling (2002). Recently also, the simple stratigraphic “Late Devonian” slice was applied by Golonka (2007b). The paleoenvironments and lithofacies (Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 10) represent the whole Late Devonian unit. They are displayed on the 370 Ma base maps.

The major mass extinction event occurred during the Late Devonian times (Buggisch, 1991; Averbuch et al., 2005; Stigall, 2010; McGhee, 2013; Stanley, 2016). It is named Kellwasser Event, after Kellwasser Valley, Kellwassertal in Germany (Buggisch, 1991) in, Germany. The cause for this event is a subject of debate. One point of view argues for extra-terrestrial impact (e. g. Sandberg et al., 2002; Du et al., 2008). This scenario extinction has only rather historical value (see Racki, 2012). Other scientists link this event with tectonics and related magmatism (e.g. Racki, 1998a; Veimarn and Korneeva, 2007; Courtillot et al., 2010; Ricci et al., 2013; Racki et al., 2018; Ernst et al., 2020; Racki, 2019, Racki, 2020a, Racki, 2020b). The other possible causes, like sea-level change (e. g. Johnson et al., 1985), glaciation (McGhee, 2013; Mc Ghee Jr., 2014) or continental weathering (Averbuch et al., 2005) are certainly linked to plate tectonics. Plate tectonic activity is causing paleogeographic and paleoclimatic change, which may have contributed to the mass extinction. According to Dopieralska et al. (2016) the Kellwasser Event is caused by oxygen deficiency caused by short-term fluctuations linked to cooling periods of glacial o origin,

The present author hopes that the review of Devonian global plate tectonics and paleogeography can contribute to understanding the mechanism of extinction such as was the case of the end-Triassic event (Golonka and Krobicki, 2006; Golonka, 2007a; Golonka et al., 2018) .

Section snippets

Methods

The maps (Figs. 1–10) were constructed using computer software mentioned in the introduction. This software utilizes the Euler theorem (Euler, 1736, Euler, 1741), which states that a movement of a tectonic element during a given time interval, on a sphere can be described as a rotation around a fixed axis crossing the center of the sphere (e.g., Bullard et al., 1965; Pitman and Talwani, 1972; Greiner, 1999; Müller and Seton, 2014). The Euler pole coordinates, the angle and time of the rotation

Convergent tectonics

The Variscan orogeny in Europe commenced during Late Devonian times. The Laurussia supercontinent (Fig. 1, Fig. 3) was assembled during the Caledonian Orogeny (Ziegler, 1989). This supercontinent included Laurentia (majority of present-day North America), as well as northern Europe. The north-dipping subduction rimmed the southern margin of this continent (e. g. Kroner et al., 2007, Kroner et al., 2016; Nance et al., 2010; Zeh and Gerdes, 2010; Golonka and Gawęda, 2012; Kroner and Romer, 2013;

Extensional tectonics

Spreading in the Paleotethys Ocean constituted the main extensional event during the Late Devonian times. The timing of the first phase opening is still somewhat speculative and a subject of discussion. Stampfli and Borel (2002) stated that the Paleotethys Ocean originated during Ordovician and Silurian times. Golonka (2000) concluded that Paleotethys opened between Gondwana and Chinese tectonic elements during the latest Devonian–Early Carboniferous times, but plotted on his map (Golonka, 2000

Alternative paleogeography of Laurussia and European Perigondwana margins

Fig. 4 present alternative paleogeography during Late Devonian. It depicts Laurussia and European Perigondwana margins (central–southern Europe) with tectonic elements position at 370 Ma. It is based mainly on Franke et al. (2017) paper and other work of Wolfgang Franke (Franke, 2000, Franke, 2006, Franke, 2014). It is also similar to the older works of present author (Golonka, 2000; Golonka et al., 2006). From the global plate tectonics point of view, the differences are not very significant.

Sedimentation and Paleolithofacies

The presented maps depict the environment during the high sea-level (Golonka and Bocharova, 2000), before the regression above the Frasnian–Fammenian boundary (Haq and Shutter, 2008; van der Meer et al., 2017). This regression is related to cooling and increasing of glaciers (Johnson et al., 1985; Johnson, 1988; McGhee, 2013; Mc Ghee Jr., 2014) or to the opening of oceanic basins. The vast area of land was covered by shallow epicontinental seas with carbonate deposits. The climate was warm,

Plate tectonic, paleogeography and extinction events

The extinction of biotas during Late Devonian times, at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary was influenced by plate tectonic evolution and associated phenomena. The extensive volcanism related to the rifting within major continents and oceanic spreading represents the main process that has influenced the extinction (Racki, 1998a, Racki, 2019, Racki, 2020a, Racki, 2020b; Veimarn and Korneeva, 2007; Kravchinsky, 2012; Ernst, 2014, Racki et al., 2018; Ernst et al., 2020). Fig. 2 displays the

Conclusions

This paper presents the Late Devonian (Frasnian–Famennian) global and regional paleogeographic maps displaying present day coastlines, tectonic elements boundaries, subductions, rifts, spreading centers, transform faults, paleogeographic configuration and volcanism 370 million years ago.

The novelty of this paper is integration of paleogeographic distribution of paleocontinents and other tectonic elements with structural evolution, volcanism, paleosedimentation and paleolithofacies.

The regional

Declaration of Competing Interest

None.

Acknowledgments

This research has been partially supported by the National Science Centre (NCN – Narodowe Centrum Nauki), Poland, grant 2016/23/B/ST10/01896. This paper was greatly improved thanks to reviewers', Dominique Frizon de Lamotte, Christian Vérard, Wolfgang Franke and L. Robin M. Cocks as well as two anonymous consultants and guest editor Grzegorz Racki remarks.

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