Taghanic event

The Taghanic event was a major extinction event that happened about 386 million years ago during the Givetian faunal stage of the Middle Devonian geologic period in the Paleozoic era.

It was caused by hypoxia from an anoxic event, meaning that the oxygen levels in the Earth's oceans dropped a lot. This lack of oxygen led to the death of many corals. Because coral reefs were lost, many other sea animals that depended on the reefs also died.

Scientists think that many species went extinct during this time, making it one of the largest extinction events known. The drop in oxygen was caused by global warming, which was linked to natural changes in Earth's orbit called Milankovitch cycles. After the Taghanic event, sea levels were higher than before.

Eventually, sea life began to recover in the Frasnian faunal stage, starting about 382.7 million years ago. The Taghanic event was followed by two more major extinction events: the Kellwasser event about 372 million years ago and the Hangenberg event about 359 million years ago.

Extinctions

The Taghanic event happened around 386 million years ago. Many plants and animals disappeared. About half of all coral types, including a coral called Thamnopora boloniensis, went extinct. Many sea sponges and other simple ocean creatures also disappeared. This event changed life in the oceans a lot.

Main article: Taghanic event

Sediments

Scientists studied layers of Old Red Sandstone continent to learn about the Taghanic event. They looked at changes in rock layers and animal fossils. The Taghanic event can be seen in places like the Tully Formation and Marcellus Formation in New York and Pennsylvania. It is also in the Windom shale. The event has been found in the Mahantango Formation in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. It is also in Tafilalt, Morocco, especially in the Anti-Atlas mountains, and in rocks from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland.

Taghanic onlap

The Taghanic event was a time when the Earth got warmer. This warming melted ice caps, and the water made sea levels go up. Because of this, the sea slowly covered the land in a process called the Taghanic onlap. As the sea moved in, it left strata on the seafloor. In parts of the southwestern United States, this flooding made a shallow area where the sea could stay.