High-Resolution Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy of the Ordovician-Silurian Boundary on Anticosti Island, Quebec: Regional and Global Implications

The end-Ordovician was a critical time in Earth history and marked the occurrence of a mass extinction and a period of continental glaciation. The Ellis Bay Formation on Anticosti Island in Quebec represents up to 100 meters of relatively undisturbed, continuous, low latitude, shallow water carbonate ramp deposits that span the Hirnantian Stage and terminate close to the Ordovician-Silurian (O-S) boundary. In this study, approximately 400 samples of micritic limestones were collected from six Ellis Bay sections ranging from the basin margin to more distal basin center of the Anticosti Basin. delta13C and delta18O isotopic ratios were measured from these samples and integrated within a recently proposed framework of sequence stratigraphy and biostratigraphy for the Ellis Bay Formation. The measured delta13C values in most sections show a positive excursion (∼2‰) in the lower Ellis Bay Formation followed by a larger excursion (∼4‰) in the upper Ellis Bay Formation. The delta 13C profile of the Ellis Bay Formation on Anticosti Island exhibits a pattern similar to those of other profiles in graptolite-rich Hirnantian basinal successions from the rest of the world. The delta13C record on Anticosti Island is not consistent with predictions and observations based on current models that describe the state and evolution of the global carbon cycle during the Late Ordovician.