Research Explorer

Project

Death from below: how linking brines, anoxia, mutation, and stratabound ore could solve the enigma of Devonian mass extinction and the World’s REE crisis
Code
01N01317
Duration
01 January 2017 → 31 December 2022
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Research disciplines
  • Humanities
    • Archaeology not elsewhere classified
  • Natural sciences
    • Biogeochemistry
    • Exploration geochemistry
    • Geoarchaeology
    • Geochronology
    • Mineralogy and crystallography
    • Petrology
    • Stratigraphy
    • Palaeoclimatology
    • Other earth sciences not elsewhere classified
    • Palaeontology
    • Natural resource management
    • Soil sciences, challenges and pollution not elsewhere classified
Keywords
Ocean Anoxic Events sedimentary exhalative deposits Mass extinctions
 
Project description

Here, we test new kill-mechanisms for iconic Devonian mass-extinctions. Our nascent hypothesis suggests that formation of exhalative (sedex) Zn-Pb-Au deposits resulted in global Ocean Anoxic Events. Our novel proxy measures the geochemistry of severely malformed organic-walled fossil plankton, coinciding with the extinctions. Tracing the heavy metal contamination and stratigraphy provides a new tool to pinpoint sedex and associated
REE deposits.