ALBERT

Description: The Late Devonian biosphere was affected by two of the most severe biodiversity crises in Earth's history, the Kellwasser and Hangenberg events near the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F) and the Devonian–Carboniferous (D–C) boundaries, respectively. Current hypotheses for the causes of the Late Devonian extinctions are focused on climate changes and associated ocean anoxia. Testing these hypotheses has been impeded by a lack of sufficient temporal resolution in paleobiological, tectonic and climate proxy records. While there have been recent advances in astronomical calibration that have improved the accuracy of the Frasnian time scale and part of the Famennian, the time duration of the entire Famennian Stage remains poorly constrained. During the Late Devonian, a complete Late Frasnian–Early Carboniferous succession of deep-shelf deposits accumulated in the epieric sea in Illinois Basin of the central North-American mid-continent. A record of this sequence is captured in three overlapping cores (H-30, Sullivan and H-32). The H-30 core section spans the F–F boundary; the Sullivan section spans almost all of the Famennian and the H-32 section sampled spans the interval of the Upper Famennian and the D–C boundary. To have the best chance of capturing Milankovitch cycles, 2000 rock samples were collected at minimum 5-cm-interval across the entire sequence. Magnetic susceptibility (MS) was measured on each sample and the preservation of climatic information into the MS signal was verified through geochemical analyses and low-temperature magnetic susceptibility acquisition. To estimate the duration of the Famennian Stage, we applied multiple spectral techniques and tuned the MS signal using the highly stable 405 kyr cycle for Sullivan and the obliquity cycle for the H-30 and H-32 cores. Based on the correlation between the cores we constructed a Famennian floating astronomical time scale, which indicates a duration of 13.5 ± 0.5 myr. An uncertainty of 0.5 myr was estimated for the uncertainties arising from the errors in the stratigraphic position of the F–F and D–C boundaries, and the 405 kyr cycle counting. Interpolated from the high-resolution U–Pb radiometric ages available for the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary we recalibrated the Frasnian–Famennian boundary numerical age to 372.4 ± 0.9 Ma.

Description: Recent advances in radiometric dating result in significant improvements in the geological timescale and provide better insight into the timing of various processes and evolutions within the Earth's system. However, no radiometric ages are contained within the Givetian. Consequently, the absolute ages of the Givetian Stage boundaries, as well as the stage's duration, remain poorly constrained. As an alternative, the analysis of sedimentary cycles allows for the estimation of the duration of this stage. We examined the high-resolution magnetic susceptibility signals of four Givetian outcrops in the Givet area for a possible astronomical imprint, to fully understand the rates of evolutionary and environmental change. All four sections are firmly correlated and wavelet analyses of the magnetic susceptibility signals reveal the imprint of astronomical eccentricity forcing. The highly stable 405 kyr cycles constrain the duration of the Givetian Stage at 4.35±0.45 Myr, which is in good agreement with the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (5.0 Myr). The studied sections also exhibit an imprint of obliquity, suggesting a climatic teleconnection between low and high latitudes. The corresponding microfacies curves demonstrate similar astronomical imprint, and thereby indicate that the observed 10**5 year-scale cyclicity is the result of climatic and environmental change.

Description: Spectral analysis is a key tool for identifying periodic patterns in sedimentary sequences, including astronomically related orbital signals. While most spectral analysis methods require equally spaced samples, this condition is rarely achieved either in the field or when sampling sediment core. Here, we propose a method to assess the impact of the uncertainty or error made in the measurement of the sample stratigraphic position on the resulting power spectra. We apply a Monte Carlo procedure to randomise the sample steps of depth series using a gamma distribution. Such a distribution preserves the stratigraphic order of samples and allows controlling the average and the variance of the distribution of sample distances after randomisation. We apply the Monte Carlo procedure on two geological datasets and find that gamma distribution of sample distances completely smooths the spectrum at high frequencies and decreases the power and significance levels of the spectral peaks in an important proportion of the spectrum. At 5 % of stratigraphic uncertainty, a small portion of the spectrum is completely smoothed. Taking at least three samples per thinnest cycle of interest should allow this cycle to be still observed in the spectrum, while taking at least four samples per thinnest cycle of interest should allow its significance levels to be preserved in the spectrum. At 10 and 15 % uncertainty, these thresholds increase, and taking at least four samples per thinnest cycle of interest should allow the targeted cycles to be still observed in the spectrum. In addition, taking at least 10 samples per thinnest cycle of interest should allow their significance levels to be preserved. For robust applications of the power spectrum in further studies, we suggest providing a strong control of the measurement of the sample position. A density of 10 samples per putative precession cycle is a safe sampling density for preserving spectral power and significance level in the Milankovitch band. For lower sampling density, the use of gamma-law simulations should help in assessing the impact of stratigraphic uncertainty in the power spectrum in the Milankovitch band. Gamma-law simulations can also model the distortions of the Milankovitch record in sedimentary series due to variations in the sedimentation rate.