Multiple Organic Carbon Isotope Reversals across the Permo‐Triassic Boundary of Terrestrial Gondwana Sequences: Clues to Extinction Patterns and Delayed Ecosystem Recovery

Wit, Maarten J. de; Ghosh, Joy Gopal; Villiers, Stephanie de; Rakotosolofo, N. A.; Alexander, James B.; Tripathi, Archana; Looy, Cindy V.

doi:10.1086/338411

Cited by 145 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Some hypotheses suggest that mild greenhouse conditions generated by volcanism contributed to thermal release of methane from gas hydrates on continental shelves (Benton and Twitchett, 2003), which in turn led to enhanced greenhouse warming. This scenario is supported by multiple negative δ 13 C excursions reported from many global marine and terrestrial Permian-Triassic boundary successions (de Wit et al, 2002), and appears to be consistent with the transitional or stepwise floristic extinctions and recovery described above.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Extinction and recovery patterns of the vegetation across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary — a tool for unravelling the causes of the end-Permian mass-extinction

Vajda

McLoughlin

2007

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

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High-resolution palynofloral signatures through the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary succession show several features in common with the Permian-Triassic transition but there are also important differences. Southern Hemisphere CretaceousPalaeogene successions, to date studied at high resolution only in New Zealand, reveal a diverse palynoflora abruptly replaced by fungi-dominated assemblages that are in turn succeeded by low diversity suites dominated by fern spores, then gymnosperm-and angiosperm-dominated palynofloras of equivalent diversity to those of the Late Cretaceous. This palynofloral signature is interpreted to represent instantaneous (days to months) destruction of diverse forest communities associated with the Chicxulub impact event. The pattern of palynofloral change suggests wholesale collapse of vascular plant communities and short-term proliferation of saprotrophs followed by relatively rapid successional recovery of pteridophyte and seed-plant communities. The Permian-Triassic transition records global devastation of gymnosperm-dominated forests in a short zone synchronous with one or more peaks of the fungal/algal palynomorph Reduviasporonites. This zone is typically succeeded by assemblages rich in lycophyte spores and/or acritarchs. Higher in the succession, these assemblages give way to diverse palynofloras dominated by new groups of gymnosperms. Although different plant families were involved in the mass-extinctions, the general pattern of extinction and recovery is consistent between both events. The major difference is the longer duration for each phase of the Triassic recovery vegetation compared to that of the Paleocene. The protracted extinction-recovery succession at the Permian-Triassic boundary is incompatible with an instantaneous causal mechanism such as an impact of a celestial body but is consistent with hypotheses invoking extended environmental perturbations through flood-basalt volcanism and release of methane from continental shelf sediments.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Extinction and recovery patterns of the vegetation across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary — a tool for unravelling the causes of the end-Permian mass-extinction

Vajda

McLoughlin

2007

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

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“…Looking forward, it may be possible for ongoing and future insect monitoring programs that collect morphometric data to detect body-size changes through this century and to quantify potential climate-warming effects in living populations. Likewise, looking back into deep time, we retrodict that soil organisms living through such proposed hyperthermal events as the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic mass extinctions (39,40) will also show significantly decreased body sizes because of contributing factors similar to those that operated during the PETM.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Transient dwarfism of soil fauna during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Smith

Hasiotis²,

Kraus³

et al. 2009

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

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Soil organisms, as recorded by trace fossils in paleosols of the Willwood Formation, Wyoming, show significant body-size reductions and increased abundances during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Paleobotanical, paleopedologic, and oxygen isotope studies indicate high temperatures during the PETM and sharp declines in precipitation compared with late Paleocene estimates. Insect and oligochaete burrows increase in abundance during the PETM, suggesting longer periods of soil development and improved drainage conditions. Crayfish burrows and molluscan body fossils, abundant below and above the PETM interval, are significantly less abundant during the PETM, likely because of drier floodplain conditions and lower water tables. Burrow diameters of the most abundant ichnofossils are 30 -46% smaller within the PETM interval. As burrow size is a proxy for body size, significant reductions in burrow diameter suggest that their tracemakers were smaller bodied. Smaller body sizes may have resulted from higher subsurface temperatures, lower soil moisture conditions, or nutritionally deficient vegetation in the high-CO 2 atmosphere inferred for the PETM. Smaller soil fauna co-occur with dwarf mammal taxa during the PETM; thus, a common forcing mechanism may have selected for small size in both above-and below-ground terrestrial communities. We predict that soil fauna have already shown reductions in size over the last 150 years of increased atmospheric CO 2 and surface temperatures or that they will exhibit this pattern over the next century. We retrodict also that soil fauna across the Permian-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic boundary events show significant size decreases because of similar forcing mechanisms driven by rapid global warming.climate change ͉ evolution ͉ extinction ͉ ichnofossils ͉ paleosols

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“…The final crisis thus may have been entirely restricted to the final one million years of the Permian (Wignall and Twitchett 1996). Nowadays, Permian-Triassic (P/Tr) boundary sequences all over the world have been intensively studied (Wignall and Twitchett 1996;Foster et al 1999;Hansen et al 2000;Heydari et al 2000;MacLeod et al 2000;Musashi et al 2001;Berner 2002;De Wit et al 2002;Wignall and Twitchett 2002;Sarkar et al 2003). Although several multidisciplinary studies, including paleontology, sedimentology, geochemistry, paleogeography, magnetostratigraphy, and volcanology have been made to analyze the extinction patterns and the causes of extinction, the mechanisms which could have triggered the P/Tr boundary events and biotic crisis are not yet completely understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon isotope variability and sedimentology of the Upper Permian carbonate rocks and changes across the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Masore section (Western Slovenia)

Dolenec

Ogorelec

Dolenec

et al. 2004

Facies

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Carbonate and total organic carbon stable isotope analyses of the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic succession in the Masore section in western Slovenia indicate a high storage of organic matter during the Upper Permian, as well as the well known worldwide "light carbon isotope event" across the P/Tr boundary. The per-turbations in the global carbon cycle observed in the investigated section span an approximately 50 cm thick interval (from 11 cm below to +41 cm above the lithostratigraphically determined P/Tr boundary), and coincide more or less with changes in lithology, as well as with an abrupt disappearance of Upper Permian marine fauna. In this section changes in the sedimentary environment are most probably related to Upper PermianLower Triassic sea level changes. The carbonate and organic carbon negative peak anomaly could be explained by accelerated changes in the end Permian carbon cycle, due to some co-occurring events, such as pronounced erosion and oxidation of organic carbon, a possible release of methane from stored hydrates, and volcanic activity, as well as by a sudden reduction in primary productivity triggered by not yet completely satisfactorily explained mechanisms.

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Multiple Organic Carbon Isotope Reversals across the Permo‐Triassic Boundary of Terrestrial Gondwana Sequences: Clues to Extinction Patterns and Delayed Ecosystem Recovery

Cited by 145 publications

References 76 publications

Extinction and recovery patterns of the vegetation across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary — a tool for unravelling the causes of the end-Permian mass-extinction

Extinction and recovery patterns of the vegetation across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary — a tool for unravelling the causes of the end-Permian mass-extinction

Transient dwarfism of soil fauna during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

Carbon isotope variability and sedimentology of the Upper Permian carbonate rocks and changes across the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Masore section (Western Slovenia)

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