The Triassic–Jurassic transition – A review of environmental change at the dawn of modern life

Dinosaur extinctions related to the Jenkyns Event (early Toarcian, Jurassic)

“…The Early Jurassic climate was predominantly humid and warm (Frakes et al, 1992), but characterized by high variability, which involved colder and warmer periods (e.g., Dera et al, 2011;Korte & Hesselbo, 2011;Korte et al, 2015;Ruebsam et al, 2019Ruebsam et al, , 2020b. The Early Jurassic interval between the Triassic/ Jurassic boundary and the early Toarcian Jenkyns Event is characterized by several smaller carboncycle perturbations identified as CIEs (Cramer & Jarvis, 2020;Schoepfer et al, 2022). The Sinemurian-Pliensbachian boundary is marked by a negative CIE (Franceschi et al, 2019) and the Ibex Zone of the lower Pliensbachian is characterized by a positive CIE and warming (Armendáriz et al, 2012).…”

“…The Triassic/Jurassic transition is characterized by severe environmental stress in the ocean and on land, as well as enhanced atmospheric CO 2 concentrations (McElwain et al, 1999;Cohen & Coe, 2007;Michalík et al, 2007;Whiteside et al, 2010). The volcanic activity of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) caused a massive input of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that triggered global warming (4 to 5ºC; McElwain et al, 1999;Schoepfer et al, 2022) and mass extinction both on land and sea (Whiteside et al, 2010). Acid rain was generated by the CAMP eruptions, as well as increased wildfires and the resulting extensive deforestation probably caused by warmer and drier climates (Blackburn et al, 2013;Thibodeau et al, 2016;Percival et al, 2017;Pole et al, 2018;Alipour et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2022).…”

Contrasting terrestrial and marine ecospace dynamics after the end-Triassic mass extinction event

“…the disappearance of Plagiosauridae), all but one lineage of Pseudosuchians (‘crocodile-like’ archosaurs) [25], and non-mammalian synapsids [13,26]. After the ETE, Jurassic global ecosystems were further impacted by volcanism from the Karoo-Ferrar Large Igneous Province (KFLIP) and the associated Toarcian Ocean Anoxia Event (T-OAE) [13]. Marine macroevolutionary processes continued to be driven by the ongoing Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) [27,28], while terrestrial macroevolutionary processes were characterized by the diversification of dinosaurs [29].…”

“…The increase in greenhouse gases due to CAMP volcanism resulted in rapid global warming (approx. 7.4°C warming at a rate greater than 10°C Myr -1 [12]), causing catastrophic effects on marine and terrestrial environments and biota [13]. In marine ecosystems, ocean anoxia [14][15][16], ocean acidification [17,18] and decreased primary productivity [19] resulted in the total extinction of conodonts, severe losses in scleractinian corals, ammonoids and reef-building sponges, and elevated extinction rates among articulate brachiopods, bivalves and marine vertebrates [20][21][22].…”

Storms and deforestation prior to Triassic – Jurassic Boundary? Evidence from woody fossils at upmost Xujiahe Formation, Southwestern China

“…On the other hand, the emplacement of CAMP was linked to the end-Triassic mass extinction (ETME, ~ 201.6Ma) [15][16][17][18][19][20] , which was marked by one of the ve largest biotic turnovers in the geological record [21][22][23] . The occurrence of ETME wiped out many of the remnants taxon of the Paleozoic Fauna, such as conodonts, conulariids, and several orders of brachiopods, setting the stage for a further transition to modern marine communities 24,25 . But compare with the vast record in end-Permian mass extinction in the terrestrial realm [26][27][28][29][30][31] , the ETME shows a very different scenario, nowadays, the available data are not su cient to prove that there was a major extinction event in land plants during the Triassic -Jurassic transition 32 , but rather a turnover displayed of which terrestrial ecosystems were severely affected by the climate and environment change [33][34][35][36][37] .…”