Arc eruptions deliver ‘first blow’ in the pulsed end-Permian mass extinction

Abstract

Brief pulses of intense magmatic activity (flare-ups) along convergent margins represent drivers for climatic excursions that can lead to major extinction events. However, correlating volcanic outpouring to environmental crises in the geological past is often difficult due to poor preservation of volcanic sequences. Herein, we present a high-fidelity, CA-TIMS U–Pb zircon record of an end-Permian flare-up event in Eastern Australia, that involved the eruption of >39,000–150,000 km3 of silicic magma in c. 4.21 million years. A correlated high-resolution tephra record (c. 260–249 Ma) in the proximal sedimentary basins suggests recurrence of eruptions from the volcanic field in intervals of ~51,000–145,000 years. Peak eruption activity at 253 Ma is chronologically associated with the pulsed stages of the Permian mass extinction event. The ferocity of the 253 Ma eruption cycle in Eastern Australia is identified as a driver of greenhouse crises and ecosystem stress that led to the reduction in diversity of genera and the demise of the Glossopteris Forests. Simultaneous global continental margin arc flare-up events could thus present an additional agent to trigger greenhouse warming and ecosystem stress that preceded the catastrophic eruption of the Siberian Traps.

Flare-up in Cordilleran arcs controlled by fluxes in subduction water budgets

“…Similar magmatic peaks are observed at c. 250 and 350 Ma (Fig. 1) (McKenzie et al, 2016;Cao et al, 2017;Chapman et al, 2022). Drivers of these magmatic pulses have been variously linked to estimates of the rate of subduction (Fig.…”

“…Evidence for the correlation is preserved in flare-up events identified in c. 100-130 Ma segments of Antarctica, North and South America, New Zealand, Antarctica and northern China, Korea, and Japan (Figs 1 & 2) (Kirsch et al, 2016;Cao et al, 2017;Milan et al, 2017;Tang et al, 2018). Predictions of peaks in subduction flux further back in time also show good correlation with pulses in magmatism in the Phanerozoic at c. 250 and 350 Ma, associated with the assembly of Pangea and Laurussia (Domeier et al, 2018;Chapman et al, 2022).…”