Late Devonian extinction

E89373

biodiversity crisis mass extinction event paleontological event

The Late Devonian extinction was a prolonged series of biodiversity crises around 375–359 million years ago that devastated marine life, especially reef ecosystems and armored fishes, and ranks among the largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history.

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All labels observed (8)

Label	Occurrences
Frasnian–Famennian extinction event	3
Hangenberg event	3
Late Devonian extinction canonical	2
Late Devonian mass extinction	2
Frasnian–Famennian boundary	1
Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction	1
Hangenberg extinction event	1
Late Devonian extinction events	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T738731 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Late Devonian extinction
Context triple: [Paleozoic Era, majorEvent, Late Devonian extinction]

A. Permian–Triassic mass extinction
The Permian–Triassic mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth's history, wiping out the majority of marine and terrestrial species around 252 million years ago and marking the boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
B. Early Devonian
The Early Devonian was the initial subdivision of the Devonian Period, marked by the diversification of early fishes and the spread of primitive vascular land plants across emerging terrestrial ecosystems.
C. Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion was a relatively brief period around 541 million years ago when most major animal groups rapidly appeared in the fossil record, dramatically increasing the complexity and diversity of life on Earth.
D. Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary
The Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary marks the geological transition 66 million years ago associated with a mass extinction event that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs and many other species, likely triggered by a large asteroid impact.
E. Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic Era, roughly 443 to 419 million years ago, marked by the stabilization of Earth’s climate, widespread shallow seas, and significant diversification of early marine life and the first land plants.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Late Devonian extinction
Target entity description: The Late Devonian extinction was a prolonged series of biodiversity crises around 375–359 million years ago that devastated marine life, especially reef ecosystems and armored fishes, and ranks among the largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history.

A. Permian–Triassic mass extinction
The Permian–Triassic mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth's history, wiping out the majority of marine and terrestrial species around 252 million years ago and marking the boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.
B. Early Devonian
The Early Devonian was the initial subdivision of the Devonian Period, marked by the diversification of early fishes and the spread of primitive vascular land plants across emerging terrestrial ecosystems.
C. Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion was a relatively brief period around 541 million years ago when most major animal groups rapidly appeared in the fossil record, dramatically increasing the complexity and diversity of life on Earth.
D. Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary
The Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary marks the geological transition 66 million years ago associated with a mass extinction event that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs and many other species, likely triggered by a large asteroid impact.
E. Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period of the Paleozoic Era, roughly 443 to 419 million years ago, marked by the stabilization of Earth’s climate, widespread shallow seas, and significant diversification of early marine life and the first land plants.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	biodiversity crisis ⓘ mass extinction event ⓘ paleontological event ⓘ
characterizedBy	multiple extinction pulses ⓘ prolonged biodiversity loss ⓘ
effectOnEarthSystem	collapse of reef-building communities ⓘ decline of jawless fishes ⓘ extinction of many placoderm lineages ⓘ restructuring of marine food webs ⓘ
endTime	approximately 359 million years ago ⓘ
followedBy	Carboniferous diversification of vertebrates ⓘ expansion of tetrapods in Carboniferous ⓘ
hasConsequence	long-term reduction in reef diversity ⓘ turnover in dominant fish groups ⓘ
hasDuration	several million years ⓘ
hasPeakExtinctionInterval	Frasnian–Famennian boundary ⓘ linked to: Late Devonian extinction end-Devonian ⓘ
hasStratigraphicMarker	Hangenberg black shales ⓘ Kellwasser horizons ⓘ
includesEvent	Hangenberg event ⓘ linked to: Late Devonian extinction Kellwasser event ⓘ linked to: Kellwasser events
locatedInTime	Paleozoic era ⓘ
occursIn	Devonian period ⓘ linked to: Devonian Period
partOf	Phanerozoic mass extinctions ⓘ
possibleCause	asteroid impact hypothesis ⓘ eutrophication of marine basins ⓘ global cooling ⓘ land plant expansion impacts on climate and oceans ⓘ ocean anoxia ⓘ sea-level fluctuations ⓘ volcanism ⓘ
primarilyAffected	ammonoids ⓘ armored fishes ⓘ brachiopods ⓘ conodonts ⓘ coral reefs ⓘ marine ecosystems ⓘ placoderms ⓘ reef ecosystems ⓘ stromatoporoid reefs ⓘ trilobites ⓘ
rankInSize	among largest mass extinctions in Earth history ⓘ
startTime	approximately 375 million years ago ⓘ
studiedInDiscipline	paleoecology ⓘ paleontology ⓘ stratigraphy ⓘ
temporalExtent	Late Devonian ⓘ

How these facts were elicited