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

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.

Enhanced vertical mixing in the glacial ocean inferred from sedimentary carbon isotopes

Reconstructing the circulation, mixing and carbon content of the Last Glacial Maximum ocean remains challenging. Recent hypotheses suggest that a shoaled Atlantic meridional overturning circulation or increased stratification would have reduced vertical mixing, isolated the abyssal ocean and increased carbon storage, thus contributing to lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Here, using an ensemble of ocean simulations, we evaluate impacts of changes in tidal energy dissipation due to lower sea levels on ocean mixing, circulation, and carbon isotope distributions. We find that increased tidal mixing strengthens deep ocean flow rates and decreases vertical gradients of radiocarbon and δ13C in the deep Atlantic. Simulations with a shallower overturning circulation and more vigorous mixing fit sediment isotope data best. Our results, which are conservative, provide observational support that vertical mixing in the glacial Atlantic may have been enhanced due to more vigorous tidal dissipation, despite shoaling of the overturning circulation and increases in stratification.

Three-Dimensional Nondestructive Isotope-Selective Tomographic Imaging of 208Pb Distribution via Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence

Combining the nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) transmission method with computed tomography (CT) can be a novel method for imaging the isotope distributions, which is indispensable in nuclear engineering. We performed an experiment to reconstruct a three-dimensional NRF-CT image with isotope selectivity of enriched lead isotope rods (208Pb) together with a set of different rods, including another enriched isotope (206Pb), iron, and aluminum rods, inserted into a cylindrical aluminum holder. Using a laser Compton scattering (LCS) gamma ray beam with a 5.528 MeV maximum energy, 2 mm beam size, and 10 photon·s−1·eV−1 flux density, which is available at the BL1U beamline in the ultraviolet synchrotron orbital radiation-III (UVSOR-III) synchrotron radiation facility at the Institute of Molecular Science at the National Institutes of Natural Sciences in Japan, and we excited the Jπ = 1− NRF level at 5.512 MeV in 208Pb. An isotope-selective three-dimensional NRF-CT image of the 208Pb isotope distribution was experimentally obtained for the first time with a pixel resolution of 4 mm in the horizontal plane.

Ideas and perspectives: The same carbon behaves like different elements – an insight into position-specific isotope distributions

It is expected that information on the source, reaction pathway, and reaction kinetics of an organic compound can be obtained from its position-specific isotope compositions or intramolecular isotope distribution (Intra-ID). To retrieve the information, we could use its predicted equilibrium Intra-ID as a reference for understanding the observed Intra-IDs. Historically, observed, apparently close-to-equilibrium carbon Intra-ID has prompted an open debate on the nature of biosystems and specifically the pervasiveness of reversible biochemical reactions. Much of the debate remains unresolved, and the discussion has not clearly distinguished between two states of equilibrium: (1) the equilibrium among the corresponding bond-breaking and bond-forming positions in reactant and product and (2) the equilibrium among all carbon positions within a compound. For an organic molecule with multiple carbon positions, equilibrium carbon Intra-ID can be attained only when a specific reaction is in equilibrium and the sources of each position are also in equilibrium with each other. An observed Intra-ID provides limited information on if the sources and pathways are both unconstrained. Here, we elaborate on this insight using examples of the observed Intra-IDs of hydroxyl-bearing minerals, N2O, and acetic acid. Research effort aiming to calibrate position-specific equilibrium and kinetic isotope fractionation factors for defined processes will help to interpret observed Intra-IDs of a compound accurately and fully.

Enigmatic provenance signature of sandstone from the Okwa Group, Botswana

Detrital zircon grains from three samples of sandstone from the Tswaane Formation of the Okwa Group of Botswana have been dated by U-Pb and analysed for Hf isotopes by multicollector LA-ICPMS. The detrital zircon age distribution pattern of the detrital zircons is dominated by a mid-Palaeoproterozoic age fraction (2 000 to 2 150 Ma) with minor late Archaean – early Palaeoproterozoic fractions. The 2 000 to 2 150 Ma zircon grains show a range of epsilon Hf from -12 to 0. The observed age and Hf isotope distributions overlap closely with those of sandstones of the Palaeoproterozoic Waterberg Group and Keis Supergroup of South Africa, but are very different from Neoproterozoic deposits in the region, and from the Takatswaane siltstone of the Okwa Group, all of which are dominated by detrital zircon grains younger than 1 950 Ma. The detrital zircon data indicate that the sources of Tswaane Formation sandstones were either Palaeoproterozoic rocks in the basement of the Kaapvaal Craton, or recycled Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rocks similar to the Waterberg, Elim or Olifantshoek groups of South Africa. This implies a significant shift in provenance regime between the deposition of the Takatswaane and Tswaane formations. However, the detrital zircon data are also compatible with a completely different scenario in which the Tswaane Formation consists of Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rock in tectonic rather than depositional contact with the other units of the Okwa Group.

Simulating stable carbon isotopes in the ocean component of the FAMOUS general circulation model with MOSES1 (XOAVI)

Ocean circulation and the marine carbon cycle can be indirectly inferred from stable and radiogenic carbon isotope ratios (δ13C and Δ14C, respectively), measured directly in the water column, or recorded in geological archives such as sedimentary microfossils and corals. However, interpreting these records is non-trivial because they reflect a complex interplay between physical and biogeochemical processes. By directly simulating multiple isotopic tracer fields within numerical models, we can improve our understanding of the processes that control large-scale isotope distributions and interpolate the spatiotemporal gaps in both modern and palaeo datasets. We have added the stable isotope 13C to the ocean component of the FAMOUS coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model, which is a valuable tool for simulating complex feedbacks between different Earth system processes on decadal to multi-millennial timescales. We tested three different biological fractionation parameterisations to account for the uncertainty associated with equilibrium fractionation during photosynthesis and used sensitivity experiments to quantify the effects of fractionation during air–sea gas exchange and primary productivity on the simulated δ13CDIC distributions. Following a 10 000-year pre-industrial spin-up, we simulated the Suess effect (the isotopic imprint of anthropogenic fossil fuel burning) to assess the performance of the model in replicating modern observations. Our implementation captures the large-scale structure and range of δ13CDIC observations in the surface ocean, but the simulated values are too high at all depths, which we infer is due to biases in the biological pump. In the first instance, the new 13C tracer will therefore be useful for recalibrating both the physical and biogeochemical components of FAMOUS.