Early Devonian age of the Detroit River Group, inferred from Arctic stromatoporoids

The Detroit River Group of southwestern Ontario and the adjacent United States has traditionally been considered mostly or entirely Middle Devonian in age. Detroit River Group faunas are, however, highly endemic and difficult to correlate to the chronostratigraphic standard; widely accepted conodont-based ages are similarly constrained by endemism and rely heavily upon inferential correlations. Recent evidence from the Blue Fiord Formation of southwestern Ellesmere Island suggests an Emsian (late Early Devonian) age for the full Detroit River Group, based upon shared stromatoporoid species. Four Detroit River Group species, Stromatoporella perannulata Galloway and St. Jean, Stictostroma mamilliferum Galloway and St. Jean, Habrostroma proxilaminata (Fagerstrom), and Parallelopora campbelli Galloway and St. Jean, are recognized for the first time in the Arctic. In addition, Blue Fiord Formation (and younger) species of Trupetostroma and Pseudoactinodictyon demonstrate close relationships to Detroit River Group species. Together, the stromatoporoid evidence and the available conodont data imply a serotinus age for the Amherstburg Formation and a serotinus to patulus age for the Lucas Formation. This is the first direct species-level correlation of a Detroit River Group "endemic" to a globally dateable level and the first regional application of stromatoporoid biostratigraphy in North America.