TY - JOUR

T1 - Carbon isotope chemostratigraphy and sea-level history of the Hirnantian Stage (uppermost Ordovician) in the Oslo-Asker district, Norway

AU - Calner, Mikael

AU - Bockelie, Johan Fredrik

AU - Rasmussen, Christian M. Ø.

AU - Calner, Hanna

AU - Lehnert, Oliver

AU - Joachimski, Michael M.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - We present a 13Ccarb chemostratigraphy for the Late Ordovician Hirnantian Stage based on 208 whole-rock samples from six outcrops in the Oslo-Asker district, southern Norway. Our data include the Norwegian type section for the Hirnantian Stage and Ordovician-Silurian boundary at Hovedøya Island. The most complete record of the Hirnantian Isotope Carbon Excursion (HICE) is identified in a coastal exposure at Konglungø locality where the preserved part of the anomaly spans a c. 24 m thick, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession belonging to the upper Husbergøya, Langåra and Langøyene formations and where 13Ccarb peak values reach c. +6 ‰. Almost the entire HICE occurs above beds containing the Hirnantia Fauna, suggesting a latest Hirnantian age for the peak of the excursion. The temporal development of the HICE in southern Norway is associated with substantial shallowing of depositional environments. Sedimentary facies and erosional unconformities suggest four inferably fourth-order glacio-eustatically controlled sea-level lowstands with successively increased exposure and erosion to the succession. The youngest erosional unconformity is related to the development of incised valleys and resulted in cut-out of at least the falling limb of the HICE throughout most of the Oslo-Asker district. The fill of the valleys contains the falling limb of the HICE, and the postglacial transgression therefore can be assigned to the latest part of the Hirnantian Age. We address the recent findings of the chitinozoan Belonechitina gamachiana in the study area and its relationship to the first occurrence of Hirnantia Fauna in the studied sections, challenging identification of the base of the Hirnantian Stage.

AB - We present a 13Ccarb chemostratigraphy for the Late Ordovician Hirnantian Stage based on 208 whole-rock samples from six outcrops in the Oslo-Asker district, southern Norway. Our data include the Norwegian type section for the Hirnantian Stage and Ordovician-Silurian boundary at Hovedøya Island. The most complete record of the Hirnantian Isotope Carbon Excursion (HICE) is identified in a coastal exposure at Konglungø locality where the preserved part of the anomaly spans a c. 24 m thick, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession belonging to the upper Husbergøya, Langåra and Langøyene formations and where 13Ccarb peak values reach c. +6 ‰. Almost the entire HICE occurs above beds containing the Hirnantia Fauna, suggesting a latest Hirnantian age for the peak of the excursion. The temporal development of the HICE in southern Norway is associated with substantial shallowing of depositional environments. Sedimentary facies and erosional unconformities suggest four inferably fourth-order glacio-eustatically controlled sea-level lowstands with successively increased exposure and erosion to the succession. The youngest erosional unconformity is related to the development of incised valleys and resulted in cut-out of at least the falling limb of the HICE throughout most of the Oslo-Asker district. The fill of the valleys contains the falling limb of the HICE, and the postglacial transgression therefore can be assigned to the latest part of the Hirnantian Age. We address the recent findings of the chitinozoan Belonechitina gamachiana in the study area and its relationship to the first occurrence of Hirnantia Fauna in the studied sections, challenging identification of the base of the Hirnantian Stage.

KW - brachiopods

KW - glaciation

KW - HICE

KW - Hovedøya

KW - incised valley

KW - Konglungø

KW - oolite

U2 - 10.1017/S0016756821000546

DO - 10.1017/S0016756821000546

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85110758841

VL - 58

SP - 1977

EP - 2008

JO - Geological Magazine

JF - Geological Magazine

SN - 0016-7568

IS - 11

ER -