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The Famennian is the later of two in the Late Devonian epoch. The most recent estimate for its duration is that it lasted from around 371.1 to 359.3 million years ago. An earlier 2012 estimate, still used by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, is that it lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Frasnian stage and followed by the Tournaisian stage.
The beginning of the Famennian is marked by the final stages of a major extinction event, the Kellwasser Event, which is the largest component of the Late Devonian mass extinction. The end of the Famennian experiences a smaller but still quite severe extinction event, the Hangenberg Event. A brief episode of glaciation, possibly linked to the Hangenberg event, occurred during the late Famennian, the first in a series of short glaciations that preceded the Late Palaeozoic ice age of the Carboniferous and Permian periods.
North American subdivisions of the Famennian include the Chautauquan, Canadaway, Conneaut, Conneautan, Conewango and Conewangan.
Since 2017, the base of the Famennian has been defined by a distinctive turnover of conodonts, particularly the last appearance of Palmatolepis, the first appearance of Palmatolepis subperlobata, and an increase in the abundance of Palmatolepis ultima. It was previously defined by the start of the Palmatolepis triangularis conodont zone, but later studies showed that P. triangularis first appeared slightly later than the main conodont turnover in the GSSP.
A 2012 ICS timescale based on rough radioisotopic records estimated the Famennian began around 372.2 ± 1.6 Ma, and ended at 358.9 ± 0.4 Ma. In 2020 this was revised to a start at 371.1 ± 1.1 Ma and an end at 359.3 ± 0.3 Ma.
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