The Silurian ''Mulde Event'' on the shelf of the East European Craton: chronology of events and causal relationships

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Axel Munnecke
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 216246865

The Mulde Event (Wenlock, Silurian) was a major perturbation in the global climate, carbon cycle, and ocean state. The associated extinction affected ca. 95% of graptolite species (the so-called “Große Krise”; Jäger, 1991), and the globally-recorded sea-level change was among the most abrupt in Earth history. This project aims to elucidate the chronology of associated events through a sedimentary basin analysis of the shelf of the East European Craton, using subsurface and outcrop data from Poland and Ukraine. A sequence stratigraphical framework will be developed based on microfacies, paleontological, and geochemical analyses, which will include 13C development and spectral gamma ray logs. Changes in marine ecosystems will be tracked for graptolites and conodonts, which will also provide chronostratigraphic control. The aims of the project are: 1) to provide facies-independent, basin-scale reconstruction of the extinction and subsequent carbon isotope excursion with precise biostratigraphic control in order to establish accurate timing and explain causal relationships between these events and sea-level change; and 2) to identify (?glacial) climate conditions in the low-latitude sedimentary record using the Mulde Event as a case study. The project will allow many of the existing models of the driving mechanisms of carbon isotope development that have been proposed for the Lower Palaeozoic to be tested, and as a result, it will provide significant insight into palaeoclimate and oceanic circulation at this time in Earth’s history.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants