The colonization of drylands by early vascular plants: Evidence from Early Devonian fossil soils and in situ plant traces from South China

Xue, Jinzhuang; Wang, Jiashu; Huang, Pu; Liu, Lu; Huang, T. W.; Zhang, Lijun; Shen, Bing; Wang, Biao; Li, Jianbo; Davies, Neil S.; Basinger, James F.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104290

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 111 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Most previous research indicates that terrestrialization promotes clay formation in the long term, resulting in higher riverine δ 7 Li (Kalderon‐Asael et al., 2021). We infer that the initial spread of seed plants into unvegetated or sparsely vegetated upland areas and drier continental interiors likely accelerated chemical dissolution of crustal rocks due to a combination of increased rhizosphere mass, more efficient mechanical breakup of bedrock substrates (i.e., increasing the surface area for weathering), and an intensified hydrological cycle (Algeo & Scheckler, 2010; Pawlik et al., 2020; Xue et al., 2022). This process can explain the concurrent drawdown of atmospheric CO 2 , elevated riverine nutrient fluxes, and expansion of marine anoxia that characterize the Hangenberg Crisis and that profoundly altered the Earth‐surface system during the D‐C transition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Continental Weathering as a Trigger for the End‐Devonian Hangenberg Crisis

Qie

Zhang

Luo

et al. 2023

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Hangenberg Crisis coincided with a large decline of biodiversity and widespread anoxia in the end‐Devonian ocean. Previous research attributed marine anoxia to the spread of deeply‐rooted plants and/or increased volcanism on the continents, but crucial links have not been thoroughly explored. Herein, we propose enhanced weathering as a key trigger, as evidenced by a negative shift (∼8‰) in lithium isotopes and a coupled response in carbon isotopes of marine carbonates in South China. Our findings imply that rapid weathering of crustal rocks increased nutrient delivery to the ocean, as indicated by an increase in the carbonate‐associated phosphate levels, contributing to oceanic eutrophication. In the absence of massive volcanic emissions and intense orogeny, the cause of enhanced continental weathering was likely the expansion of the terrestrial rhizosphere, highlighting the potential for land plant evolution to initiate weathering changes of sufficient severity to trigger a major bio/environmental crisis in the Earth system.

show abstract