Mid-Devonian ocean oxygenation enabled the expansion of animals into deeper-water habitats

The oxygenation history of Earth's surface environments has had a profound influence on the ecology and evolution of metazoan life. It was traditionally thought that the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event enabled the origin of animals in marine environments, followed by their persistence in aerobic marine habitats ever since. However, recent studies of redox proxies (e.g., Fe, Mo, Ce, I) have suggested that low dissolved oxygen levels persisted in the deep ocean until the Late Devonian, when the first heavily wooded ligniophyte forests raised atmospheric O<sub>2</sub> to modern levels. Here, we present a Paleozoic redox proxy record based on selenium enrichments and isotope ratios in fine-grained siliciclastic sediments. Our data reveal transient oxygenation of bottom waters around the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, followed by predominantly anoxic deep-water conditions through the Early Devonian (419 to 393 Ma). In the Middle Devonian (393 to 382 Ma), our data document the onset of permanent deep-ocean oxygenation, coincident with the spread of woody biomass across terrestrial landscapes. This episode is concurrent with the ecological occupation and evolutionary radiation of large active invertebrate and vertebrate organisms in deeper oceanic infaunal and epifaunal habitats, suggesting that the burial of recalcitrant wood from the first forests sequestered organic carbon, increased deep marine oxygen levels, and was ultimately responsible for the "mid-Paleozoic marine revolution."

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-08-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2501342122
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.99

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article

Mid-Devonian ocean oxygenation enabled the expansion of animals into deeper-water habitats

Kunmanee Bubphamanee, Jana Meixnerová, Michael A. Kipp, François Tissot et al.
3 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
12.99
article

Mid-Devonian ocean oxygenation enabled the expansion of animals into deeper-water habitats

Kunmanee Bubphamanee, Jana Meixnerová, Michael A. Kipp, François Tissot, Tais W. Dahl, Jordan Kinsley, Thomas J. Algeo, Eva E. Stüeken, Linda C. Ivany, Jochen J. Brocks, Roger Buick, Alexander Bartholomew
article en
3 citations

Abstract

The oxygenation history of Earth's surface environments has had a profound influence on the ecology and evolution of metazoan life. It was traditionally thought that the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event enabled the origin of animals in marine environments, followed by their persistence in aerobic marine habitats ever since. However, recent studies of redox proxies (e.g., Fe, Mo, Ce, I) have suggested that low dissolved oxygen levels persisted in the deep ocean until the Late Devonian, when the first heavily wooded ligniophyte forests raised atmospheric O<sub>2</sub> to modern levels. Here, we present a Paleozoic redox proxy record based on selenium enrichments and isotope ratios in fine-grained siliciclastic sediments. Our data reveal transient oxygenation of bottom waters around the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, followed by predominantly anoxic deep-water conditions through the Early Devonian (419 to 393 Ma). In the Middle Devonian (393 to 382 Ma), our data document the onset of permanent deep-ocean oxygenation, coincident with the spread of woody biomass across terrestrial landscapes. This episode is concurrent with the ecological occupation and evolutionary radiation of large active invertebrate and vertebrate organisms in deeper oceanic infaunal and epifaunal habitats, suggesting that the burial of recalcitrant wood from the first forests sequestered organic carbon, increased deep marine oxygen levels, and was ultimately responsible for the "mid-Paleozoic marine revolution."

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(35)
Australian National University (AU), California Institute of Technology (US), State University of New York (US), SUNY New Paltz (US), University of St Andrews (GB), Duke University (US), University of Washington (US), NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (US), China University of Geosciences (CN), China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN), Chengdu University of Technology (CN), State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (CN), ChemCentre (AU), Centre de Géosciences (FR), St Nicholas Hospital (GB), Geocenter Denmark (DK), Earth and Space Research (US), Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (CA), University of Cincinnati (US), Syracuse University (US)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Agouron Institute, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, NASA Astrobiology Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
12.99
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