CALL FOR PROPOSALS:

ORGANIZERS

  • Harvey Thorleifson, Chair
    Minnesota Geological Survey
  • Carrie Jennings, Vice Chair
    Minnesota Geological Survey
  • David Bush, Technical Program Chair
    University of West Georgia
  • Jim Miller, Field Trip Chair
    University of Minnesota Duluth
  • Curtis M. Hudak, Sponsorship Chair
    Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC

 

Paper No. 3
Presentation Time: 8:45 AM

PHANEROZOIC EARTH SYSTEM EVOLUTION AND MARINE BIODIVERSITY


HANNISDAL, Bjarte, Department of Earth Science, Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, Bergen, N-5007, Norway and PETERS, Shanan E., Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1215 W Dayton St, Madison, WI 53706, bjarte.hannisdal@geo.uib.no

The Phanerozoic fossil record of marine invertebrate diversity covaries with the amount of preserved sedimentary rock. The extent to which this covariation reflects a geologically controlled sampling bias remains unknown. Here we show that Phanerozoic records of seawater chemistry and continental flooding contain information on the diversity of marine animals that is not captured by sedimentary rock quantity alone. Interrelationships among variables suggest long-term interactions between continental flooding, sulfur and carbon cycling, global climate, and macroevolution. Thus, mutual responses to Earth systems evolution, not sampling biases, explain much of the observed covariation between Phanerozoic patterns of sedimentation and biodiversity. Linkages between biodiversity and environmental records likely reflect complex biotic responses to ocean redox conditions, paleoclimate, and long-term sea level changes driven by plate tectonics.
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