Advances in Understanding the Late Devonian Extinctions: New Data from Mongolia and the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

Dr. Waters is an expert on mass extinction, especially the Devonian mass extinction.  He is a co-leader of the UNESCO-funded International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) 596 on Climate Change and Biodiversity Patterns in the Mid-Paleozoic and his Mongolia field research was named Expedition of the Year by the Atlanta Chapter of the Explorer’s Club in 2019.

Friday Jan 24 330 PM 200 A Geology:   He will be speaking on "Advances in Understanding the Late Devonian Extinctions:  New Data from Mongolia and the Central Asian Orogenic Belt". The results of his fieldwork in Mongolia and western China has led to a new model for anoxia associated with the Late Devonian Extinctions (the Kellwasser and Hangenberg Events), collectively one of the big 5 extinctions. The top down model is climate driven and serves as a compelling comparison to modern climate change.  The fieldwork also indicates that the Central Asian Orogenic Belt was a Late Devonian biodiversity hotspot from which key elements of Mississippian marine communities radiated.