Devonian geology

Significant geologic events

The union of the paleocontinents of Laurentia and Baltica occurred near the beginning of the Devonian to form a single landmass that has been referred to both as Laurussia and as Euramerica. The northern portion of the combined landmass gave rise to widespread areas of continental desert, playa, and alluvial plain deposits that form one of the earliest documented large areas of nonmarine sedimentation. These terrestrial deposits, known as the Old Red Sandstone, covered much of the then-united areas of North America, Greenland, Scandinavia, and the northern British Isles. They contain remarkable documentation of the colonization of land by vertebrates as well as that of freshwater rivers and lakes by plants and fish. The two latter groups existed prior to this time, but they had their earliest extensive evolutionary radiation during the Devonian.

The areas south of the Old Red Sandstone, including sectors of eastern and western North America, central and southern Europe, and parts of European Russia, were often covered by shallow continental shelf seas with local deeper marine troughs.

The continental collision that united these paleocontinents, which began during the Silurian Period, resulted from the closing of the Iapetus Ocean (which was the precursor of the Atlantic Ocean) and is known as the Iapetus suture. It was marked by a mountain-building event, the Caledonian orogeny, that established a mountain chain stretching from present-day eastern North America through Greenland, western Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, and northern England and south to the fringes of western North Africa. Considerable igneous activity was associated with the Caledonian orogenic belt, both intrusive (emplacement of magmatic bodies at depth) and extrusive (volcanic activity at the surface). Sediments derived from erosion of the mountain belt formed locally important strata such as the European deposits laid down during the Lower Devonian and the Catskill Delta in New York state begun in the Middle Devonian.

The present-day southern continents of South America, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent were joined together as the enormous continental mass called Gondwana during the Devonian. Large areas of Asia east of the Ural Mountains were divided into separate landmasses at this point in Earth history. Their distribution is poorly understood, but many of them may have been attached to the margins of Gondwana. Also during the Devonian Period, Gondwana began impinging upon Laurussia. There is evidence that these two landmasses completely fused together during the Late Carboniferous or Early Permian periods.

Sea level rose (transgressed) and fell (regressed) frequently during the Devonian. Some of these episodes were accompanied by a brief period of deposition of anoxic (oxygen-depleted) black shales or limestones. Many of these deposits are quite widespread. Some are associated with the extinction of important groups of fossil organisms.

Economic significance of Devonian deposits

In many countries Devonian rocks have provided building stone, refractory and building brick, glass sands, and abrasive materials. Marble of Devonian age has been quarried in France and Belgium. German medieval castles are mostly clad with Devonian slates. In areas of European Russia and in Saskatchewan, Can., evaporites, including anhydrite and halite, are commercially exploited. Lodes of tin, zinc, and copper occur in several areas where Devonian rocks have been subject to orogenic (mountain-building) processes, such as in Devon and Cornwall in England and in central Europe. Since the 19th century, oil and natural gas have been produced from Devonian rocks in New York and Pennsylvania. In the 1930s, oil was found in Devonian sandstones in the Ural-Volga region and later in the Pechora area of northern European Russia. In 1947 oil was discovered in an Upper Devonian reef at Leduc, Alta., Can.; this was followed by vigorous exploration, and oil production from the area remains significant today.

Major subdivisions of the Devonian System

The rocks formed during Devonian time are known as the Devonian System. These rocks occur on all continents both at the surface and as substrata. Extensive areas of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia are underlain by Devonian rocks. Subsequent folding has made such rocks common in many ancient fold belts.

The rocks of the Devonian System are divided into the Lower Devonian Series (419.2 million–393.3 million years ago; comprising the Lochkovian, Pragian, and Emsian stages), the Middle Devonian Series (393.3 million–382.7 million years ago; comprising the Eifelian and Givetian stages), and the Upper Devonian Series (382.7 million–358.9 million years ago; comprising the Frasnian and Famennian stages).