scholarly journals Mercury evidence for pulsed volcanism during the end-Triassic mass extinction

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (30) ◽  
pp. 7929-7934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. E. Percival ◽  
Micha Ruhl ◽  
Stephen P. Hesselbo ◽  
Hugh C. Jenkyns ◽  
Tamsin A. Mather ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Flood Basalt ◽  
Atmosphere System ◽  
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province ◽  
Biotic Recovery ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
Volatile Release ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Central Atlantic

The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) has long been proposed as having a causal relationship with the end-Triassic extinction event (∼201.5 Ma). In North America and northern Africa, CAMP is preserved as multiple basaltic units interbedded with uppermost Triassic to lowermost Jurassic sediments. However, it has been unclear whether this apparent pulsing was a local feature, or if pulses in the intensity of CAMP volcanism characterized the emplacement of the province as a whole. Here, six geographically widespread Triassic–Jurassic records, representing varied paleoenvironments, are analyzed for mercury (Hg) concentrations and Hg/total organic carbon (Hg/TOC) ratios. Volcanism is a major source of mercury to the modern environment. Clear increases in Hg and Hg/TOC are observed at the end-Triassic extinction horizon, confirming that a volcanically induced global Hg cycle perturbation occurred at that time. The established correlation between the extinction horizon and lowest CAMP basalts allows this sedimentary Hg excursion to be stratigraphically tied to a specific flood basalt unit, strengthening the case for volcanic Hg as the driver of sedimentary Hg/TOC spikes. Additional Hg/TOC peaks are also documented between the extinction horizon and the Triassic–Jurassic boundary (separated by ∼200 ky), supporting pulsatory intensity of CAMP volcanism across the entire province and providing direct evidence for episodic volatile release during the initial stages of CAMP emplacement. Pulsatory volcanism, and associated perturbations in the ocean–atmosphere system, likely had profound implications for the rate and magnitude of the end-Triassic mass extinction and subsequent biotic recovery.

scholarly journals Two-pronged kill mechanism at the end-Triassic mass extinction

Geology ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calum P. Fox ◽  
Jessica H. Whiteside ◽  
Paul E. Olsen ◽  
Xingqian Cui ◽  
Roger E. Summons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province ◽  
Igneous Provinces ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Isotope Distributions ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Central Atlantic ◽  
Camp Activity

High-resolution biomarker and compound-specific isotope distributions coupled with the degradation of calcareous fossil remnants reveal that intensive euxinia and decalcification (acidification) driven by Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) activity formed a two-pronged kill mechanism at the end-Triassic mass extinction. In a newly proposed extinction interval for the basal Blue Lias Formation (Bristol Channel Basin, UK), biomarker distributions reveal an episode of persistent photic zone euxinia (PZE) that extended further upward into the surface waters. In the same interval, shelly taxa almost completely disappear. Beginning in the basal paper shales of the Blue Lias Formation, a Lilliput assemblage is preserved consisting of only rare calcitic oysters (Liostrea) and ghost fossils of decalcified aragonitic bivalves. The stressors of PZE and decalcification parsimoniously explain the extinction event and inform possible combined causes of other biotic crises linked to emplacement of large igneous provinces, notably the end-Permian mass extinction, when PZE occurred on a broad and perhaps global scale.

scholarly journals Synchrony between the Central Atlantic magmatic province and the Triassic–Jurassic mass-extinction event?

2007 ◽  
Vol 244 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 345-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica H. Whiteside ◽  
Paul E. Olsen ◽  
Dennis V. Kent ◽  
Sarah J. Fowell ◽  
Mohammed Et-Touhami
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Central Atlantic

PETROLOGY AND AGE OF THE LEPREAU RIVER DYKE, SOUTHERN NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA: SOURCE OF THE END-TRIASSIC FUNDY GROUP BASALTS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Gregory McHone ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Fred Jourdan
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Early Mesozoic ◽  
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Central Atlantic ◽  
Fundy Basin ◽  
Associated Mass

A large dyke of quartz-tholeiitic gabbronorite has been mapped for 59 km in southern New Brunswick, Canada, between Lepreau River in the northeast and Indian Island in the southwest. Scattered outcrops occur along a positive aeromagnetic lineament, providing a dyke strike of N42°E overall (segments N30°E to N72°E), dips of 80° to 90°NNW, and widths of 4 to 30 m. A new 40Ar/39Ar plagioclase age of 201.67 ± 0.35 Ma for the Lepreau River Dyke is similar to dates for the massive North Mountain Basalt in the Fundy Basin to the east. The dyke is associated with the Ministers Island and Christmas Cove dykes, which are indistinguishable in chemistry, petrology, and probable age, and we regard them as segments of the same co-magmatic dyke system. In addition, their petrology is similar to that of the basalts of the adjacent Early Mesozoic Fundy and Grand Manan basins. We propose that the Lepreau River and associated dykes were sources for the regional basin basalts, which in turn are part of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) that overlaps the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and associated mass extinction event.

Land plants and terrestrial environmental changes during the onset of the end-Triassic event

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Lindström ◽  
Hans Peter Nytoft ◽  
Gunver K. Pedersen ◽  
Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki ◽  
Karen Dybkjær ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Magmatic Activity ◽  
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Geochronological Dating ◽  
Ecosystem Changes ◽  
Central Atlantic ◽  
Insight Into

<p>The end-Triassic mass extinction is considered to have been caused by voluminous and repeated emissions of CO<sub>2</sub> and/or methane and other gases from magmatic activity in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Despite improved geochronological dating and correlation between the magmatic activity and the extinctions, exactly how the biotic crisis commenced remains poorly understood. Here, we compile palynological and palaeobotanical data, bulk organic δ<sup>13</sup>C, biomarkers, mercury and other geochemical proxies, charcoal, and sedimentology, from a Rhaetian terrestrial succession in southern Sweden. Our results provide an insight into the climatic, environmental and ecosystem changes that took place at the onset of the mass extinction event.</p>

scholarly journals Late Toarcian marine gastropods from the Cleveland Basin, UK: systematics, palaeobiogeography and contribution to biotic recovery from the early Toarcian extinction event

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariel Ferrari ◽  
Crispin TS Little ◽  
Jed W Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gastropod Species ◽  
Marine Gastropods ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Biotic Recovery ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Sandstone Formation ◽  
Mass Extinction Event

As part of a study to evaluate the recovery from the early Toarcian extinction event in the Cleveland Basin, 477 new gastropod specimens were collected from mid-late Toarcian rocks of the Ravenscar section, North Yorkshire, UK. The gastropods were preserved in two modes: 1) specimens preserved with recrystallized shells, mainly in the Whitby Mudstone Formation, but also some in the Blea Wyke Sandstone Formation; 2) specimens preserved as external moulds in mineralized patches of shells in the Yellow Sandstone Member. The fossil assemblage comprised fifteen species, of which three are new: Katosira? bicarinata sp. nov., Turritelloidea stepheni sp. nov. and Striactaenonina elegans sp. nov. Four species are described in open nomenclature, as Tricarilda? sp. Jurilda sp., Cylindrobullina sp. and Cossmannina sp. The other species have previously been described: Coelodiscus minutus (Schübler in Zieten), Procerithium quadrilineatum (Römer), Pseudokatosira undulata (Benz in von Zieten), Palaeorissoina aff. acuminata (Gründel), Pietteia unicarinata (Hudleston), Globularia cf. canina (Hudleston), Striactaeonina cf. richterorum Schulbert & Nützel, Striactaenonina aff. tenuistriata (Hudleston) and Sulcoactaeon sedgvici (Phillips). Most of these species are the earliest records of their respective genera and show palaeobiogeographical connections with contemporary gastropod associations from other regions of Europe and South America. The taxonomic composition of the late Toarcian Cleveland Basin gastropod assemblage differs substantially from the faunas of the late Pliensbachian and early Toarcian Tenuicostatum Zone, showing the strong effect of the early Toarcian mass extinction event on the marine gastropod communities in the basin. Only a few gastropod species are shared between the late Toarcian faunas and the much more diverse Aalenian gastropod faunas in the Cleveland Basin, suggesting there was a facies control on gastropod occurrences at that time. This is also a potential explanation for the taxonomic differences between the late Toarcian gastropod faunas in the Cleveland Basin and those in France, and Northern and Southern Germany.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document