Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

Impact of Devonian Mass Extinction on Reefs: Similar Morphology on a Smaller Scale?

The Devonian mass extinction consists of multiple extinction events that amount to one of the biggest turnover events in Earth’s history. Much of present-day land was submerged during this period, and shallow reefs were widespread throughout the world’s oceans. Stromatoporoids, from the phylum Porifera, are layered organisms that compose the majority of reefs throughout the Paleozoic and went extinct at the end of the Devonian. After the Devonian mass extinction, some other reef builders remained but they were not as abundant and likely did not contribute to large-scale buildups. In the Guilmette Formation of the western United States, exposed in Utah and Nevada, a type of digitate stromatoporoid Amphipora is commonly found. After the extinction, a similar digitate reef-dwelling organism Syringopora has been reported from the Missippian age Joana Formation. Syringopora, a tabulate coral, is of a different phylum Amphipora, but is morphologically similar. This research uses samples from the Great Basin to test the hypothesis that organisms like Syringopora fill in the niche left open by the extinction of Amphipora.