Rapid eruption of Siberian flood-volcanic rocks and evidence for coincidence with the Permian–Triassic boundary and mass extinction at 251 Ma

High-precision timeline for Earth’s most severe extinction

“…The end-Permian extinction event occurred suddenly and rapidly (61 ± 48 ka) in an interval much shorter than current estimates for the total duration of Siberian Traps magmatism, suggesting that, similar to the end-Triassic extinction event, a single pulse of magmatism may be the most critical for triggering dramatic environmental change (43,47,48). Current U-Pb and Ar-Ar constraints on the timing and tempo of Siberian Traps magmatism are less precise by an order of magnitude than our new constraints on the extinction.…”

“…Current U-Pb and Ar-Ar constraints on the timing and tempo of Siberian Traps magmatism are less precise by an order of magnitude than our new constraints on the extinction. With current estimates, it can only be concluded that magmatism either overlaps with or postdates the extinction (43,47,49). Additionally, the potential for bias between chronometers and subtle differences in calculated dates generated by single or multiple laboratories using different U-Pb data acquisition and reduction protocols currently prohibits exploring the full details of a causal relationship.…”

“…Many have proposed that the end-Permian extinction was triggered by the eruption/intrusion of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province, which is hypothesized to have been of short (∼1-2 Ma) duration, to have occurred at approximately the same time as the extinction, and to have generated the large volume of volatiles via degassing of lavas and sediments required to drive such dramatic atmospheric and biotic response (2, 8,[42][43][44][45][46]. The end-Permian extinction event occurred suddenly and rapidly (61 ± 48 ka) in an interval much shorter than current estimates for the total duration of Siberian Traps magmatism, suggesting that, similar to the end-Triassic extinction event, a single pulse of magmatism may be the most critical for triggering dramatic environmental change (43,47,48).…”

The Early Permian Tarim Large Igneous Province: Main characteristics and a plume incubation model

“…The Permian is marked by the presence of four LIPs that cluster in eastern Asia, namely the Siberian traps (251 Ma, Kamo et al, 2003), Emeishan basalts (~260 Ma, He et al, 2007;Shellnutt et al, 2012;Xu et al, 2008;Zhong et al, 2014;Zhou et al, 2002), Tarim basalts (280-290 Ma, Wei et al, 2014) and Panjal traps (~290 Ma; Shellnutt et al, 2014). Interestingly, a number of major global events occurred almost simultaneously during the late Paleozoic, including the double (Permian-Triassic and end-Guadalupian) mass extinctions, ocean superanoxia, sharp C and Sr isotopic excursions, sea-level drop and Illawara geomagnetic reversal (Borisenko et al, 2006;Isozaki, 2009).…”

The Siberian Traps and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review

“…Data for Meishan Bed 28 are from Reichow et al [1] . 0.3 Ma for magmatism in the Maymecha-Kotuy region [26] . With the presently available age data, it is not possible to determine precisely how long it took to emplace the whole of the Siberian Traps.…”