Fossils in the mountains: Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and geography during the Early Palaeozoic

The eminent Alpine geologist, Rudolf Trümpy once stated, ‘One bad fossil is worth a good working hypothesis’. Although characterized by poor preservation, fossils have for many decades provided age and geographic constraints on the evolution of the World’s mountain belts. Palaeontological data helped expose horizontal and lateral crustal movements and signalled the importance of continental drift as a planetary-scale process. In Europe and North America the bioregionality of many fossil groups has provided key data for the definition of continents, microcontinents and volcanic arcs and their movements during the Early Palaeozoic. Moreover, identification of species pumps and refugia in the island terranes of the Iapetus and related oceans, now exposed along the length of the Caledonian-Appalachian orogenic belt, has enhanced our knowledge of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event and the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction. Mechanisms for the diversification and extinction of taxa can be hypothesized and many terranes hold key evidence on the early evolution and phylogeny of marine animal groups. The movement of most crustal units towards lower latitudes and their carbonate environments during the later Ordovician is correlated with the highest species richness of the period terminated by the intense, short-lived Hirnantian ice age.

How to cite: Harper, D.: Fossils in the mountains: Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and geography during the Early Palaeozoic, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4207, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4207, 2023.

Paleoclimate archives, such as marine and terrestrial sediment cores, provide a valuable record of past climate conditions and can serve as "sentinels" for predicting future climate change. By using methods of sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontology, it is possible to reconstruct the physical and biological conditions of the past and gain a deeper understanding of how ecosystem stability has responded to changes in the environment. One excellent example of this is the UNESCO world heritage Messel fossil pit in central Europe, which dates back to the Eocene epoch and provides a glimpse into the potential future climate that may be experienced in 2150. Examining the annually laminated Messel sediments and building upon more than 60 years of paleontological excavations allows for insights into the sensitivity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to environmental change under high greenhouse gas concentrations across orbital to interannual time scales. This can provide new and important constraints on aquatic ecosystem stability and potential teleconnections to the surrounding terrestrial realm in an ever-warming world. Understanding these complex interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems can inform decision-making and policy development related to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

How to cite: Kaboth-Bahr, S.: Paleoclimate archives as sentinels of future climate change, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11406, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11406, 2023.