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Oxygen isotope evolution of biogenic calcite and apatite during the Middle and Late Devonian

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Abstract

Oxygen isotope ratios of well-preserved brachiopod calcite and conodont apatite were used to reconstruct the palaeotemperature history of the Middle and Late Devonian. By assuming an oxygen isotopic composition of −1‰ V-SMOW for Devonian seawater, the oxygen isotope values of Eifelian and early Givetian brachiopods and conodonts give average palaeotemperatures ranging from 22 to 25 °C. Late Givetian and Frasnian palaeotemperatures calculated from δ18O values of conodont apatite are close to 25 °C in the early Frasnian and increase to 32 °C in the latest Frasnian and early Famennian. Oxygen isotope ratios of late Givetian and Frasnian brachiopods are significantly lower than equilibrium values calculated from conodont apatite δ18O values and give unrealistically warm temperatures ranging from 30 to 40 °C. Diagenetic recrystallization of shell calcite, different habitats of conodonts and brachiopods, as well as non-equilibrium fractionation processes during the precipitation of brachiopod calcite cannot explain the 18O depletion of brachiopod calcite. Moreover, the 18O depletion of brachiopod calcite with respect to equilibrium δ18O values calculated from conodont apatite is too large to be explained by a change in seawater pH that might have influenced the oxygen isotopic composition of brachiopod calcite. The realistic palaeotemperatures derived from δ18O apatite may suggest that biogenic apatite records the oxygen isotopic composition and palaeotemperature of Palaeozoic oceans more faithfully than brachiopod calcite, and do not support the hypothesis that the 18O/16O ratio of Devonian seawater was significantly different from that of the modern ocean.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Wenzel and D. Lutz for help with conodont apatite δ18O analyses. This study was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Projects Bu 312/31 and Jo 312/4). Brachiopods were provided by F. Alvarez, E.A. Yolkin, X. Ma, and U. Jansen. Funding for parts of Day’s travel for field work with M. M. Joachimski and R. van Geldern in Iowa in 1999 was provided by an Illinois State University – University research grant, and by the Foundation for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society.

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  1. Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    M. M. Joachimski, R. van Geldern, S. Breisig & W. Buggisch

  2. Department of Geography-Geology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4400, USA

    J. Day

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  1. M. M. Joachimski
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  2. R. van Geldern
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Correspondence to M. M. Joachimski.

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Joachimski, M.M., van Geldern, R., Breisig, S. et al. Oxygen isotope evolution of biogenic calcite and apatite during the Middle and Late Devonian. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 93, 542–553 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-004-0405-8

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