Catastrophic soil erosion during the end-Permian biotic crisis

Sephton, M. A.; Looy, Cindy V.; Brinkhuis, Henk; Wignall, Paul B.; Leeuw, J.W. de; Visscher, Henk

doi:10.1130/g21784.1

Cited by 241 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…However, marine life might have been very different with mainly prokaryotes dominating over eukaryotes (11,45). A return to nearly preextinction δ 34 S CAS , within 40 ky, suggests recommencing pyrite burial; the disturbance was therefore a rather transient event, which agrees with the postulated short duration of soil erosion and local euxinic surface water conditions (32,34). It argues for an enhanced supply of iron, possibly under reduced detrital loading of river discharge, a waning of the global extent of euxinic conditions and consequential increase of diagenetic pyrite accumulation, or a combination of both (Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Microbial sulfate reduction is an important aspect in the sulfur cycle, and the associated isotopic fractionation leads to 34 S and 18 O enrichments of the residual sulfate pool (4,27). Most of the MSR-produced H 2 S will be reoxidized, and only a fraction is buried as sedimentary sulfide serving as a sink for 32 S (22); some H 2 S can escape the sediment, especially under low O 2 concentrations (8).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction

Schobben

Stebbins

Ghaderi

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic, was accompanied by climate change and expansion of oceanic anoxic zones. The partitioning of sulfur among different exogenic reservoirs by biological and physical processes was of importance for this biodiversity crisis, but the exact role of bioessential sulfur in the mass extinction is still unclear. Here we show that globally increased production of organic matter affected the seawater sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope signature that has been recorded in carbonate rock spanning the Permian−Triassic boundary. A bifurcating temporal trend is observed for the strata spanning the marine mass extinction with carbonate-associated sulfate sulfur and oxygen isotope excursions toward decreased and increased values, respectively. By coupling these results to a box model, we show that increased marine productivity and successive enhanced microbial sulfate reduction is the most likely scenario to explain these temporal trends. The new data demonstrate that worldwide expansion of euxinic and anoxic zones are symptoms of increased biological carbon recycling in the marine realm initiated by global warming. The spatial distribution of sulfidic water column conditions in shallow seafloor environments is dictated by the severity and geographic patterns of nutrient fluxes and serves as an adequate model to explain the scale of the marine biodiversity crisis. Our results provide evidence that the major biodiversity crises in Earth's history do not necessarily implicate an ocean stripped of (most) life but rather the demise of certain eukaryotic organisms, leading to a decline in species richness.sulfur cycle | end-Permian mass extinction | primary productivity

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction

Schobben

Stebbins

Ghaderi

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The organic component of this input would be isotopically light, supplementing ocean productivity of light carbon. Sephton et al (2002Sephton et al ( , 2005 argued for a rapid input of large amounts of 12 C from terrestrial sources associated with volcanic disturbance of ecosystems, so the amount of organically-derived light carbon entering Tethys Ocean from the land is potentially a dominating factor. However, because the δ 13 C CARB levels in shelf limestones were high through the Late Permian, this suggests a long-term accumulation of light carbon stored in the deep ocean.…”

Section: Discussion 4a Carbon Isotopes In the Ptb Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution carbon isotope changes in the Permian–Triassic boundary interval, Chongqing, South China; implications for control and growth of earliest Triassic microbialites

Kershaw

et al. 2009

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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High-resolution δ 13 C CARB analysis of the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) interval at the Laolongdong section, Beibei, near the city of Chongqing, south China, encompasses the latest Permian and earliest Triassic major facies changes in the South China Block (SCB). Microbialites form a distinctive unit in the lowermost 190 cm above the top of the Changhsing Formation (latest Permian) at Laolongdong, comparable to a range of earliest Triassic sites in low latitudes in the Tethyan area. The data show that declining values of δ 13 C CARB , well-known globally, began at the base of the microbialite. High positive values (+3-4 ppt) of δ 13 C CARB in the Late Permian are interpreted to indicate storage of 12 C in the deep waters of a stratified ocean, that was released during ocean overturn in the earliest Triassic, contributing to the distinctive fall in isotope values; this interpretation has been stated by other authors and is followed here. The δ 13 C CARB curve shows fluctuations within the microbialite unit, which are not reflected in the microbialite structure. Comparisons between microbialite branches and adjacent micritic sediment show little difference in δ 13 C CARB , demonstrating that the microbialite grew in equilibrium with surrounding seawater. The Early Triassic microbialites are interpreted to be a response to upwelling of bicarbonate-rich poorly-oxygenated water in low latitudes of Tethys ocean, consistent with current ocean models for the PTB interval. However, the decline of δ 13 C CARB may be due to a combination of processes, including productivity collapse resulting from mass extinction, return of deep water to ocean surface,

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“…However, high abundances of dibenzofuran and biphenyl, which is likely to be originated from woody plants, could be observed in the interval below the mass extinction event in the Permian -Triassic Schuchert Dal Formation (East Greenland) and Hovea-3 section (Western Australia) (Fenton et al, 2007). In addition, Fenton et al (2007) pointed out that the erosive event was thought to be rather short-lived, and did not support 'the extinction -soil erosion scenario' of Sephton et al (2005). Recently, Nabbefeld et al (2010a) reported that abundances of terrigenous biomarkers such as dibenzofuran, biphenyl and coronene, which is attributed to forest-fire combustion, rapidly increased at the horizon that was onset of marine transgression, and decreased to minima above the horizon of marine ecosystem collapse in the end-Permian strata of the Lusitaniadalen, Spitsbergen, Norway.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, sedimentological investigations showed no sedimentation of peat nor formation of coal (Retallack et al, 1996;Michaelsen, 2002) and sudden change in fluvial system possibly attributed to loss of rooted plant (Michaelsen, 2002;Arche and Lopez-Gomez, 2005). Recently, geochemical studies suggested that terrigenous materials might be excessively supplied to the ocean during the PTB, resulting in disturbance of shallow-marine ecosystem via increasing turbidity, brackishness and eutrophication (Korte et al, 2003;Sephton et al, 2005). Remarkable abundances of soil-derived organic molecules such as dibenzofuran in end-Permian strata from northern Italy showed occurrence of massive soil erosion and transport of soil materials to the ocean as results of destruction of terrestrial vegetation .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kerogen morphology and geochemistry at the Permian–Triassic transition in the Meishan section, South China: Implication for paleoenvironmental variation

Sawada

Kaiho

Okano

2012

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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Abstract:Detailed fluorescent microscopic observations and organic geochemical analyses for insoluble sedimentary organic matter (kerogens) are conducted on the end-Permian to earliest Triassic sediments in the Meishan section A of South China. The main objectives of the present study are to reconstruct variations of marine and terrestrial environments, and to evaluate bulk characteristics of terrestrial input in the palaeo-Tethys ocean for the Permian -Triassic boundary (PTB). Most of kerogens in the Meishan section are mainly composed of marine algae-derived amorphous organic matter, while terrestrial plant-derived amorphous organic matter is remarkably dominant in the mass extinction horizon reported previously. The relative abundances of marine organic matter may vary depending on marine production rather than terrestrial input in the palaeo-Tethys associated with changing terrestrial vegetation. We also identified aromatic furans as major compounds in kerogen pyrolysate of all layers. It is possible that sources of aromatic furans with alkyl group, fungi and lichen, proliferated as disaster biota in terrestrial ecosystem through the PTB. Higher abundances of herbaceous organic matter are observed in the layers above the mass extinction horizon. However, the conifer biomarker retene can be identified in kerogen pyrolysates of all layers. These results imply that the productions of herbaceous plants increased as dominant pioneer biota in early stage of recovery for terrestrial ecosystem after its collapse, but also that woody plant potentially continued to be produced in land area throughout the end-Permian and earliest-Triassic.

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Catastrophic soil erosion during the end-Permian biotic crisis

Cited by 241 publications

References 36 publications

Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction

Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction

High-resolution carbon isotope changes in the Permian–Triassic boundary interval, Chongqing, South China; implications for control and growth of earliest Triassic microbialites

Kerogen morphology and geochemistry at the Permian–Triassic transition in the Meishan section, South China: Implication for paleoenvironmental variation

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