Devonian/Carboniferous boundary glacioeustatic fluctuations in a platform-to-basin direction: A geochemical approach of sequence stratigraphy in pelagic settings

•Hangenberg events sensu lato recorded rapid detrital influx into marine realms.•Element proxies are perfect tools for neritic to pelagic correlation near D/C boundary.•Hangenberg black shales do not record basin starvation during peak sea level rise.

We investigated high-resolution stratigraphic distribution of selected major and trace elements and gamma-ray spectra of fourteen Devonian/Carboniferous (D/C) boundary sections of Europe located in the late Palaeozoic Laurussia and Gondwana. The aim was to trace the geochemical signature of a marked forced and normal regressive interval which was associated with rapid progradation of siliciclastics into the marine carbonate systems (Rhenish Massif) and a prominent hiatus in shallow-water ramp settings (Namur–Dinant Basin). This interval represents the late Devonian Hangenberg event (HBE) sensu lato (middle praesulcata conodont zone) as defined by previous authors. This regressive interval (FSST to LST) correlates with thin shale layers (HBE shale) sandwiched between monotonous nodular calcilutite/calcisiltite successions at five pelagic sections of Moravia, Carnic Alps, Montagne Noire, and Pyrenees. In all sections with continuous D/C sedimentation (i.e., except those of the Namur–Dinant Basin), the HBE s.l. interval is accompanied by elevated percentages of detrital proxies (Al, K, Rb, Zr) and changes in their ratios (Zr/Rb, K/Al, Rb/K) which are normally interpreted as indicators of increased siliciclastic input, provenance, and grain size. Zr/Rb and other proxies are traceable even without apparent lithological evidence and can, therefore, facilitate stratigraphic correlation. Paleoredox and productivity proxies (U/Th and Ni/Rb enrichment factors) only rarely show elevated values in the Hangenberg black shale interval, indicating that the associated water dysoxia/anoxia was a local rather than global phenomenon. Global correlations based on the HBE black shales should therefore be dropped in favor of the HBE s.l. interval. Moreover, analysis of sedimentation rates in the upper expansa to kockeli zone interval using the published radiometric ages suggests that the HBE s.l. was a time of significant increase in the rate of siliciclastic supply into the ocean, even in the most distal pelagic sections. Consequently, the previous interpretation of the HBE black shale as a condensed succession deposited during rapid sea-level rise seems unlikely. We interpret the HBE s.l. (i.e., including the HBE black shale) as a marine record of glacioeustatic sea-level drop and increased aeolian transport in connection with late Devonian climatic cooling and glaciation. The set of geochemical markers related to the late Devonian sea-level fluctuation can be used for super-regional to global correlations from platform to basin settings. Moreover, they can facilitate current efforts to determine a new D/C boundary definition.