<p>The fossil record shows a prominent 60 million-year biodiversity cycle during the Phanerozoic Eon, the origin of which is still unknown. Here we use time-series analysis and correlation of empirical and model datasets of Earth’s interior and surficial processes to demonstrate that this cycle is a pervasive feature in marine animal genus-level diversity data that dominates in the Paleozoic Era. Our results suggest that extinctions are likely the primary driver of this observed cyclicity. We detected a correlatable 60 million-year cyclicity in global tectonics, and in marine ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ³⁴S isotopes, all of which are dominant in the Paleozoic. We conclude that continental weathering driven by global tectonic degassing and building of continental arcs may have in turn controlled paleo-seawater redox cycling during the Paleozoic when oceans were likely less saturated with respect to oxygen. In particular, we suggest that the 60 million-year fluctuations in biotic diversity are responses of shallow marine habitats to the combined effects of continental weathering and redox cycling, under global tectonic control.</p>