Editing Devonian (section)

==Climate==
The Devonian was a relatively warm period, although significant [[glacier]]s may have existed during the Early and Middle Devonian.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elrick |first1=Maya |last2=Berkyová |first2=Stana |last3=Klapper |first3=Gilbert |last4=Sharp |first4=Zachary |last5=Joachimski |first5=Michael M. |last6=Frýda |first6=Jiří |date=15 May 2009 |title=Stratigraphic and oxygen isotope evidence for My-scale glaciation driving eustasy in the Early–Middle Devonian greenhouse world |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018209000984 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=276 |issue=1–4 |pages=170–181 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.03.008 |bibcode=2009PPP...276..170E |access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref> The temperature gradient from the equator to the poles was not as large as it is today. The weather was also very arid, mostly along the equator where it was the driest.<ref name="Joachim Kia 2009"/> Reconstruction of tropical [[sea surface temperature]] from [[conodont]] [[apatite]] implies an average value of {{convert|30|C|4=0|abbr=on}} in the Early Devonian.<ref name="Joachim Kia 2009"/> Early Devonian mean annual surface temperatures were approximately 16 °C.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nardin |first1=E. |last2=Godderis |first2=Yves |last3=Donnadieu |first3=Yannick |last4=Le Hir |first4=Guillaume |last5=Blakey |first5=R. C. |last6=Puceat |first6=E. |last7=Aretz |first7=M. |date=1 May 2011 |title=Modeling the early Paleozoic long-term climatic trend |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233986372 |journal=[[Geological Society of America Bulletin]] |language=en |volume=123 |issue=5–6 |pages=1181–1192 |doi=10.1130/B30364.1 |issn=0016-7606 |access-date=14 December 2023 |via=Research Gate}}</ref> {{Co2}} levels dropped steeply throughout the Devonian Period. The newly evolved forests drew carbon out of the atmosphere, which were then buried into sediments. This may be reflected by a Mid-Devonian cooling of around {{convert|5|C-change|4=0|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Joachim Kia 2009"/> The Late Devonian warmed to levels equivalent to the Early Devonian; while there is no corresponding increase in {{co2}} concentrations, continental weathering increases (as predicted by warmer temperatures); further, a range of evidence, such as plant distribution, points to a Late Devonian warming.<ref name="Joachim Kia 2009">{{Cite journal |first1=M. M. |last1=Joachimski |first2=S. |last2=Breisig |first3=W. F. |last3=Buggisch |first4=J. A. |last4=Talent |first5=R. |last5=Mawson |first6=M. |last6=Gereke |first7=J. R. |last7=Morrow |first8=J. |last8=Day |first9=K. |last9=Weddige |title=Devonian climate and reef evolution: Insights from oxygen isotopes in apatite |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=284 |issue=3–4 |pages=599–609 |date=July 2009 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.028 |bibcode=2009E&PSL.284..599J}}</ref> The climate would have affected the dominant organisms in [[reef]]s; [[Microorganism|microbes]] would have been the main reef-forming organisms in warm periods, with corals and [[Stromatoporoidea|stromatoporoid]] sponges taking the dominant role in cooler times. The warming at the end of the Devonian may even have contributed to the extinction of the stromatoporoids. At the terminus of the Devonian, Earth rapidly cooled into an [[Greenhouse and icehouse Earth|icehouse]], marking the beginning of the [[Late Paleozoic icehouse]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosa |first1=Eduardo L. M. |last2=Isbell |first2=John L. |editor-last1=Alderton |editor-first1=David |editor-last2=Elias |editor-first2=Scott A. |date=2021 |chapter=Late Paleozoic Glaciation |chapter-url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081029084000631 |title=Encyclopedia of Geology |edition=2nd |publisher=Academic Press |pages=534–545 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-102908-4.00063-1 |isbn=978-0-08-102909-1|s2cid=226643402 }}</ref><ref name="McClungEtAl2013">{{cite journal |last1=McClung |first1=Wilson S. |last2=Eriksson |first2=Kenneth A. |last3=Terry Jr. |first3=Dennis O. |last4=Cuffey |first4=Clifford A. |date=1 October 2013 |title=Sequence stratigraphic hierarchy of the Upper Devonian Foreknobs Formation, central Appalachian Basin, USA: Evidence for transitional greenhouse to icehouse conditions |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=387 |pages=104–125 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.020 |bibcode=2013PPP...387..104M |doi-access=free }}</ref>