Alps, Austria Carboniferous events, Palaeozoic of Graz, Eastern Geochemical record of Late Devonian to Early

Abstract: The late Famennianmass extinctionhas been associated with a worldwideanoxic eventevidenced at many sites by the accumulation of organic-rich shales starting prior to the Devonian–Carboniferous (D/C) boundary. Environmental reconstructions are hampered by the fact that onlya few D/C boundary sections exist in carbonate facies. One of these is the Palaeozoic Steinbergsection, Eastern Alps, Austria. Based on detailed geochemical investigations and correlationwith previously investigated sections, we propose a succession of events from the late Famennianto the Tournaisian. Both the low total rare earth element (REE) contents and the normalized REEdistribution patterns indicate low terrigenous input from the praesulcata Zone to the typicus Zone.The d 13 C, d 18 O, d 34 S and total organic content (TOC) show a shift towards higher values, whichcorrelates well with the late Famennian isotopic trends that are related to a period of active oceancirculation, cooling and increased productivity. Two isotopic shifts are present in the section: theolder isotopic shift of the d