1
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Kaiho K. Role of volcanism and impact heating in mass extinction climate shifts. Sci Rep 2024; 14:9946. [PMID: 38688982 PMCID: PMC11061309 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60467-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the mechanisms underlying the varied climate changes witnessed during mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic Eon. Climate shifts during mass extinctions have manifested as either predominant global cooling or predominant warming, yet the causes behind these occurrences remain unclear. We emphasize the significance of sedimentary rock temperature in comprehending these climate shifts. Our research reveals that low-temperature heating of sulfide leads to global cooling through the release of sulfur dioxide (SO2), while intermediate-temperature heating of hydrocarbons and carbonates releases substantial carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing to global warming. High-temperature heating additionally generates SO2 from sulfate, further contributing to global cooling. Different degrees of contact heating of the host rock can lead to different dominant volatile gas emissions, crucially driving either warming or cooling. Moreover, medium to high-temperature shock-heating resulting from asteroid impacts produces soot from hydrocarbons, also contributing to global cooling. Large-scale volcanic activity and asteroid impacts are both events that heat rocks, emitting the same gases and particles, causing climate changes. The findings elucidate the critical role of heating temperature and heating time in understanding major climate changes during mass extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kunio Kaiho
- Department of Earth Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan.
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2
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Wu Q, Zhang H, Ramezani J, Zhang FF, Erwin DH, Feng Z, Shao LY, Cai YF, Zhang SH, Xu YG, Shen SZ. The terrestrial end-Permian mass extinction in the paleotropics postdates the marine extinction. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadi7284. [PMID: 38295161 PMCID: PMC10830061 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi7284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe ecological event during the Phanerozoic and has long been presumed contemporaneous across terrestrial and marine realms with global environmental deterioration triggered by the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province. We present high-precision zircon U-Pb geochronology by the chemical abrasion-isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry technique on tuffs from terrestrial to transitional coastal settings in Southwest China, which reveals a protracted collapse of the Cathaysian rainforest beginning after the onset of the end-Permian marine extinction. Integrated with high-resolution geochronology from coeval successions, our results suggest that the terrestrial extinction occurred diachronously with latitude, beginning at high latitudes during the late Changhsingian and progressing to the tropics by the early Induan, spanning a duration of nearly 1 million years. This latitudinal age gradient may have been related to variations in surface warming with more degraded environmental conditions at higher latitudes contributing to higher extinction rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiong Wu
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research and School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Hua Zhang
- LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Jahandar Ramezani
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Fei-fei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research and School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Douglas H. Erwin
- Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
| | - Zhuo Feng
- Institute of Palaeontology, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Earth System Science, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
- Southwest United Graduate School, Kunming 650092, China
| | - Long-yi Shao
- State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining and College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
| | - Yao-feng Cai
- LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Shu-han Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research and School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Yi-gang Xu
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
- State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry and Center of Excellence in Deep Earth Science, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Shu-zhong Shen
- State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research and School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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3
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Chen X, Dauphas N, Zhang ZJ, Schoene B, Barboni M, Leya I, Zhang J, Szymanowski D, McKeegan KD. Methodologies for 176Lu- 176Hf Analysis of Zircon Grains from the Moon and Beyond. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2024; 8:36-53. [PMID: 38264084 PMCID: PMC10801744 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.3c00093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
Zircons are found in extraterrestrial rocks from the Moon, Mars, and some differentiated meteorite parent-bodies. These zircons are rare, often of small size, and have been affected by neutron capture induced by cosmic ray exposure. The application of the 176Lu-176Hf decay system to zircons from planetary bodies such as the Moon can help establish the chronology of large-scale differentiation processes such as the crystallization of the lunar magma ocean. Here, we present methods to measure the isotopic composition of Hf of extraterrestrial zircons dated using ID-TIMS U-Pb after chemical abrasion. We introduce a 2-stage elution scheme to separate Hf from Zr while preserving the unused Zr fraction for future isotopic analysis. The effect of neutron capture is also re-examined using the latest thermal neutron capture cross sections and epithermal resonance integrals. Our tests show that the precision of Hf isotopic analyses is close to what is theoretically attainable. We have tested this method to a limited set of zircon grains from lunar rocks returned by the Apollo missions (lunar soil 14163, fragmental polymict breccia 72275, and clast-rich breccia 14321). The model ages align with previously reported values, but further work is needed to assess the chronology of lunar magma ocean crystallization as only a handful of small zircons (5 zircons from 3 samples) were analyzed, and the precision of the analyses can be improved by measuring more and larger lunar zircon grains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Chen
- Origins Laboratory,
Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Nicolas Dauphas
- Origins Laboratory,
Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Zhe J. Zhang
- Origins Laboratory,
Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Blair Schoene
- Department
of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States
| | - Melanie Barboni
- CLAS-NS
Departments, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, United States
| | - Ingo Leya
- Physics
Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Junjun Zhang
- Origins Laboratory,
Department of the Geophysical Sciences and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Dawid Szymanowski
- Department
of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States
| | - Kevin D. McKeegan
- Department
of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los
Angeles, California 90095, United States
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4
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Gentis N, Licht A, De Franceschi D, Win Z, Aung DW, Dupont-Nivet G, Boura A. First fossil woods and palm stems from the mid-Paleocene of Myanmar and implications for biogeography and wood anatomy. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2024; 111:e16259. [PMID: 38031479 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE The rise of angiosperm-dominated tropical rainforests has been proposed to have occurred shortly after the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition. Paleocene fossil wood assemblages are rare yet provide important data for understanding these forests and whether their wood anatomical features can be used to document the changes that occurred during this transition. METHODS We used standard techniques to section 11 fossil wood specimens of Paleocene-age, described the anatomy using standard terminology, and investigated their affinities to present-day taxa. RESULTS We report here the first middle Paleocene fossil wood specimens from Myanmar, which at the time was near the equator and anchored to India. Some fossils share affinities with Arecaceae, Sapindales (Anacardiaceae, Meliaceae) and Moraceae and possibly Fabaceae or Lauraceae. One specimen is described as a new species and genus: Compitoxylon paleocenicum gen. et sp. nov. CONCLUSIONS This assemblage reveals the long-lasting presence of these aforementioned groups in South Asia and suggests the early presence of multiple taxa of Laurasian affinity in Myanmar and India. The wood anatomical features of the dicotyledonous specimens reveal that both "modern" and "primitive" features (in a Baileyan scheme) are present with proportions similar to features in specimens from Paleocene Indian localities. Their anatomical diversity corroborates that tropical flora display "modern" features early in the history of angiosperms and that their high diversity remained steady afterward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Gentis
- CR2P, UMR7207, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 48, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Alexis Licht
- CEREGE, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Collège de France, Europole Méditerranéen de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Dario De Franceschi
- CR2P, UMR7207, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 48, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Zaw Win
- Geology Department, Shwebo University, Sagaing Region, Myanmar
| | - Day Wa Aung
- Geology Department, University of Yangon, Pyay Rd, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Guillaume Dupont-Nivet
- Géosciences Rennes, Université de Rennes 1, 35042, Rennes, France
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Anaïs Boura
- CR2P, UMR7207, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 48, 75005, Paris, France
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5
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Algeo TJ, Shen J. Theory and classification of mass extinction causation. Natl Sci Rev 2024; 11:nwad237. [PMID: 38116094 PMCID: PMC10727847 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwad237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Theory regarding the causation of mass extinctions is in need of systematization, which is the focus of this contribution. Every mass extinction has both an ultimate cause, i.e. the trigger that leads to various climato-environmental changes, and one or more proximate cause(s), i.e. the specific climato-environmental changes that result in elevated biotic mortality. With regard to ultimate causes, strong cases can be made that bolide (i.e. meteor) impacts, large igneous province (LIP) eruptions and bioevolutionary events have each triggered one or more of the Phanerozoic Big Five mass extinctions, and that tectono-oceanic changes have triggered some second-order extinction events. Apart from bolide impacts, other astronomical triggers (e.g. solar flares, gamma bursts and supernova explosions) remain entirely in the realm of speculation. With regard to proximate mechanisms, most extinctions are related to either carbon-release or carbon-burial processes, the former being associated with climatic warming, ocean acidification, reduced marine productivity and lower carbonate δ13C values, and the latter with climatic cooling, increased marine productivity and higher carbonate δ13C values. Environmental parameters such as marine redox conditions and terrestrial weathering intensity do not show consistent relationships with carbon-cycle changes. In this context, mass extinction causation can be usefully classified using a matrix of ultimate and proximate factors. Among the Big Five mass extinctions, the end-Cretaceous biocrisis is an example of a bolide-triggered carbon-release event, the end-Permian and end-Triassic biocrises are examples of LIP-triggered carbon-release events, and the Late Ordovician and Late Devonian biocrises are examples of bioevolution-triggered carbon-burial events. Whereas the bolide-impact and LIP-eruption mechanisms appear to invariably cause carbon release, bioevolutionary triggers can result in variable carbon-cycle changes, e.g. carbon burial during the Late Ordovician and Late Devonian events, carbon release associated with modern anthropogenic climate warming, and little to no carbon-cycle impact due to certain types of ecosystem change (e.g. the advent of the first predators around the end-Ediacaran; the appearance of Paleolithic human hunters in Australasia and the Americas). Broadly speaking, studies of mass extinction causation have suffered from insufficiently critical thinking-an impartial survey of the extant evidence shows that (i) hypotheses of a common ultimate cause (e.g. bolide impacts or LIP eruptions) for all Big Five mass extinctions are suspect given manifest differences in patterns of environmental and biotic change among them; (ii) the Late Ordovician and Late Devonian events were associated with carbon burial and long-term climatic cooling, i.e. changes that are inconsistent with a bolide-impact or LIP-eruption mechanism; and (iii) claims of periodicity in Phanerozoic mass extinctions depended critically on the now-disproven idea that they shared a common extrinsic trigger (i.e. bolide impacts).
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J Algeo
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences—Wuhan, Wuhan430074, China
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences—Wuhan, Wuhan430074, China
- Department of Geosciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH45221, USA
| | - Jun Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences—Wuhan, Wuhan430074, China
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6
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Callegaro S, Baker DR, Renne PR, Melluso L, Geraki K, Whitehouse MJ, De Min A, Marzoli A. Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadg8284. [PMID: 37792933 PMCID: PMC10550224 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Two events share the stage as main drivers of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction-Deccan Traps volcanism, and an asteroid impact recorded by the Chicxulub crater. We contribute to refining knowledge of the volcanic stressor by providing sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan lavas from the Western Ghats (India), which straddle the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Volcanic fluorine budgets were variable (400 to 3000 parts per million) and probably sufficient to affect the environment, albeit only regionally. The highest sulfur budgets (up to 1800 parts per million) are recorded in Deccan lavas emplaced just prior (within 0.1 million years) to the extinction interval, whereas later basalts are generally sulfur-poor (up to 750 parts per million). Independent evidence suggests the Deccan flood basalts erupted in high-flux pulses. Our data suggest that volcanic sulfur degassing from such activity could have caused repeated short-lived global drops in temperature, stressing the ecosystems long before the bolide impact delivered its final blow at the end of the Cretaceous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Callegaro
- Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, Sem Sælands vei 2A, 0371 Oslo, Norway
- Centre for Planetary Habitability, University of Oslo, Sem Sælands vei 2A, 0371 Oslo, Norway
| | - Don R. Baker
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University St., Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Paul R. Renne
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Leone Melluso
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Ambiente e Risorse, University of Napoli Federico II, via Cintia 21, 80126 Napoli, Italy
| | - Kalotina Geraki
- Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, UK
| | | | - Angelo De Min
- Department of Mathematics and Geoscience, University of Trieste, via Weiss 2, 34128 Trieste, Italy
| | - Andrea Marzoli
- Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-Forestali, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
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7
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Cox AA, Keller CB. A Bayesian inversion for emissions and export productivity across the end-Cretaceous boundary. Science 2023; 381:1446-1451. [PMID: 37769089 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh3875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023]
Abstract
The end-Cretaceous mass extinction was marked by both the Chicxulub impact and the ongoing emplacement of the Deccan Traps flood basalt province. To understand the mechanism of extinction, we must disentangle the timing, duration, and intensity of volcanic and meteoritic environmental forcings. In this study, we used a parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to invert for carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, export productivity, and remineralization from 67 to 65 million years ago using the LOSCAR (Long-term Ocean-atmosphere-Sediment CArbon cycle Reservoir) model. Our results closely match observed and proxy data and suggest decoupled CO2 and SO2 emissions, a two-step decline in export productivity with a protracted recovery, and no clear volatile impulse at the boundary. More broadly, our methods provide a potential path forward for efficient parallel inversion of complex Earth system models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander A Cox
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - C Brenhin Keller
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
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8
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Rasmussen CMØ, Vandenbroucke TRA, Nogues-Bravo D, Finnegan S. Was the Late Ordovician mass extinction truly exceptional? Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:812-821. [PMID: 37183151 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
The Late Ordovician mass extinction event is the oldest of the five great extinction events in the fossil record. It has long been regarded as an outlier among mass extinctions, primarily due to its association with a cooling climate. However, recent temporally better resolved fossil biodiversity estimates complicate this view, providing growing evidence for a prolonged but punctuated biodiversity decline modulated by changes in atmospheric composition, ocean chemistry, and viable habitat area. This evolving view invokes extinction drivers similar to those that occurred during other major extinctions; some are even factors in the current human-induced biodiversity crisis. Even this very ancient and, at first glance, exceptional event conveys important lessons about the intensifying 'sixth mass extinction'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David Nogues-Bravo
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Seth Finnegan
- University of California Museum of Paleontology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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9
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Pal S, Shrivastava JP, Kalpana MS. Fire activity across Cretaceous/Paleogene transition: Evidence from pyrogenic biomarkers preserved in the Mahadeo-Cherrapunji section, Meghalaya, India. GEOBIOLOGY 2023; 21:612-628. [PMID: 37312289 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2022] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies on high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) present in the shallow-marine Um-Sohryngkew River (USR) Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary (KPB) section suggested regional fire incidences and biotic stress on life. However, such observations at the USR site have not been confirmed so far anywhere else in the region, we, therefore, do not know whether the signal was local or regional. Thus, to find out charred organic markers associated with the shelf facies KPB outcrop (at a distance of over 5 km) of the Mahadeo-Cherrapunji road (MCR) section, PAHs were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Data show a notable rise in the PAHs and exhibit maximum abundance in the shaly KPB transition layer (in biozone P0) and the immediately underlying layer. The PAH excursions match well with the major incidences of the Deccan volcanic episodes and convergence of the Indian plate with the Eurasian and Burmese plates. These events were responsible for seawater disturbances and eustatic and depositional changes, including the retreat of the Tethys. The incidence of high amount of pyogenic PAHs unrelated to the total organic carbon content is suggestive of wind-blown or aquatic system transportation. A down-thrown shallow-marine facies of the Therriaghat block was responsible for an early accumulation of PAHs. However, the spike of perylene in the immediately underlying KPB transition layer is plausibly linked to the Chicxulub impact crater core. Anomalous concentrations of combustion-derived PAHs together with the high fragmentation and dissolution of the planktonic foraminifer shells show marine biodiversity and biotic distress. Significantly, the pyrogenic PAH excursions are restricted to either the KPB layer itself or strictly below or above it, indicating regional fire incidences and attendant KPB transition (66.016 ± 0.050 Ma).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sucharita Pal
- Department of Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
- Centre for Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
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10
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Davidson PC, Koppers AAP, Sano T, Hanyu T. A younger and protracted emplacement of the Ontong Java Plateau. Science 2023; 380:1185-1188. [PMID: 37319200 DOI: 10.1126/science.ade8666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The submarine volcanic emplacement of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) is the suggested cause of Ocean Anoxic Event 1a (OAE 1a). However, no precise timing and duration exists for the formation of OJP, and its connection to OAE1a relies mainly on proxies in the sedimentary record. We provide high-precision 40Ar/39Ar data from OJP drill and dredge sites that considerably improve OJP's eruptive history. The ages determined from this work are as much as 10 million years younger than previous dates and indicate a protracted formation over at least 6 million years. OJP now appears too young to have caused OAE1a, but we suggest that it may have had a role in the later OAE1b. The protracted eruptive sequence has implications for the emplacement dynamics of OJP and other large igneous provinces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter C Davidson
- College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Anthony A P Koppers
- College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Takashi Sano
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Takeshi Hanyu
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Japan
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11
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Foster WJ, Allen BJ, Kitzmann NH, Münchmeyer J, Rettelbach T, Witts JD, Whittle RJ, Larina E, Clapham ME, Dunhill AM. How predictable are mass extinction events? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221507. [PMID: 36938535 PMCID: PMC10014245 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Many modern extinction drivers are shared with past mass extinction events, such as rapid climate warming, habitat loss, pollution and invasive species. This commonality presents a key question: can the extinction risk of species during past mass extinction events inform our predictions for a modern biodiversity crisis? To investigate if it is possible to establish which species were more likely to go extinct during mass extinctions, we applied a functional trait-based model of extinction risk using a machine learning algorithm to datasets of marine fossils for the end-Permian, end-Triassic and end-Cretaceous mass extinctions. Extinction selectivity was inferred across each individual mass extinction event, before testing whether the selectivity patterns obtained could be used to 'predict' the extinction selectivity exhibited during the other mass extinctions. Our analyses show that, despite some similarities in extinction selectivity patterns between ancient crises, the selectivity of mass extinction events is inconsistent, which leads to a poor predictive performance. This lack of predictability is attributed to evolution in marine ecosystems, particularly during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution, associated with shifts in community structure alongside coincident Earth system changes. Our results suggest that past extinctions are unlikely to be informative for predicting extinction risk during a projected mass extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Bethany J. Allen
- School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland
- Computational Evolution Group, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Niklas H. Kitzmann
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)—Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany
- Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Jannes Münchmeyer
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience, Potsdam, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tabea Rettelbach
- Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Permafrost Research Section, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
| | - James D. Witts
- Bristol Palaeobiology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | | | - Ekaterina Larina
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Matthew E. Clapham
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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12
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Kumar S, Hazra T, Spicer RA, Hazra M, Spicer TE, Bera S, Khan MA. Coryphoid palms from the K-Pg boundary of central India and their biogeographical implications: Evidence from megafossil remains. PLANT DIVERSITY 2023; 45:80-97. [PMID: 36876312 PMCID: PMC9975480 DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2022.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Revised: 01/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Ten palm leaf impressions are documented from the latest Maastrichtian (late Cretaceous) to early Danian (earliest Paleocene) sediments (K-Pg, c. 66-64 Ma) of the Mandla Lobe of the Deccan Inter-trappean Beds, Madhya Pradesh, central India. The palmate leaf shape along with a definite well-preserved costa support their placement in the subfamily Coryphoideae of the family Arecaceae. We place all recovered palm leaf specimens in the fossil genus Sabalites, report seven species of coryphoid palms and describe two new species namely, Sabalities umariaensis sp. nov. and Sabalites ghughuaensis sp. nov. The fossils indicate that coryphoid palms were highly diverse in central India by the latest Cretaceous. These and earlier reported coryphoid palm fossils from the same locality indicate that they experienced a warm and humid tropical environment during the time of deposition. These discoveries confirm the presence of a diversity of Coryphoideae in Gondwana prior to the India-Eurasia collision and provide information about coryphoid biogeographical history over geological time. Based on megafossil remains, we trace coryphoid palm migration pathways from India to mainland Southeast (SE) Asia and other parts of Asia after the docking of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia early in the Paleogene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanchita Kumar
- Palaeobotany and Palynology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Ranchi Road, Purulia 723104, India
| | - Taposhi Hazra
- Palaeobotany and Palynology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Ranchi Road, Purulia 723104, India
| | - Robert A. Spicer
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, PR China
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Manoshi Hazra
- Palaeobotany and Palynology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Ranchi Road, Purulia 723104, India
| | - Teresa E.V. Spicer
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, PR China
| | - Subir Bera
- Centre of Advanced Study, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Kolkata 700019, India
| | - Mahasin Ali Khan
- Palaeobotany and Palynology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Ranchi Road, Purulia 723104, India
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Continental flood basalts drive Phanerozoic extinctions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2120441119. [PMID: 36095185 PMCID: PMC9499591 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2120441119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Refinements of the geological timescale driven by the increasing precision and accuracy of radiometric dating have revealed an apparent correlation between large igneous provinces (LIPs) and intervals of Phanerozoic faunal turnover that has been much discussed at a qualitative level. However, the extent to which such correlations are likely to occur by chance has yet to be quantitatively tested, and other kill mechanisms have been suggested for many mass extinctions. Here, we show that the degree of temporal correlation between continental LIPs and faunal turnover in the Phanerozoic is unlikely to occur by chance, suggesting a causal relationship linking extinctions and continental flood basalts. The relationship is stronger for LIPs with higher estimated eruptive rates and for stage boundaries with higher extinction magnitudes. This suggests LIP magma degassing as a primary kill mechanism for mass extinctions and other intervals of faunal turnover, which may be related to [Formula: see text], Cl, and F release. Our results suggest continental LIPs as a major, direct driver of extinctions throughout the Phanerozoic.
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14
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Volume and rate of volcanic CO 2 emissions governed the severity of past environmental crises. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2202039119. [PMID: 35878029 PMCID: PMC9351498 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2202039119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The emplacement of large igneous provinces (LIPs) has been linked to catastrophic mass extinctions in Earth's history, but some LIPs are only associated with less severe oceanic anoxic events, and others have negligible environmental effects. Although it is widely accepted that massive magma outpouring can affect the environment through volatile degassing, it remains debated what controls the severity of environmental crises. Here, we demonstrate that the second-most-voluminous Phanerozoic LIP, the Kerguelen LIP, may have contributed to the early Aptian oceanic anoxic event 1a, a global event previously believed to have been caused by the Ontong Java LIP. Geochronological data show that the earliest eruptions of the Kerguelen LIP preceded the onset of oceanic anoxic event 1a by at least ∼5 million years. Analyses of CO2 abundances in melt inclusions combined with Monte Carlo simulations reveal that the volume and degassing rate of CO2 emissions from the Kerguelen LIP are an order of magnitude lower compared to LIPs that caused severe mass extinctions. We propose that the severity of volcanism-related environmental and biotic perturbations is positively correlated with the volume and rate of CO2 emissions. Our results highlight the significant importance of reducing and slowing down CO2 emission in preventing future disastrous environmental consequences.
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15
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Butrim MJ, Royer DL, Miller IM, Dechesne M, Neu-Yagle N, Lyson TR, Johnson KR, Barclay RS. No Consistent Shift in Leaf Dry Mass per Area Across the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:894690. [PMID: 35783978 PMCID: PMC9244629 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.894690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The Chicxulub bolide impact has been linked to a mass extinction of plants at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB; ∼66 Ma), but how this extinction affected plant ecological strategies remains understudied. Previous work in the Williston Basin, North Dakota, indicates that plants pursuing strategies with a slow return-on-investment of nutrients abruptly vanished after the KPB, consistent with a hypothesis of selection against evergreen species during the globally cold and dark impact winter that followed the bolide impact. To test whether this was a widespread pattern we studied 1,303 fossil leaves from KPB-spanning sediments in the Denver Basin, Colorado. We used the relationship between petiole width and leaf mass to estimate leaf dry mass per area (LMA), a leaf functional trait negatively correlated with rate of return-on-investment. We found no evidence for a shift in this leaf-economic trait across the KPB: LMA remained consistent in both its median and overall distribution from approximately 67 to 65 Ma. However, we did find spatio-temporal patterns in LMA, where fossil localities with low LMA occurred more frequently near the western margin of the basin. These western margin localities are proximal to the Colorado Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where an orographically driven high precipitation regime is thought to have developed during the early Paleocene. Among these western Denver Basin localities, LMA and estimated mean annual precipitation were inversely correlated, a pattern consistent with observations of both fossil and extant plants. In the Denver Basin, local environmental conditions over time appeared to play a larger role in determining viable leaf-economic strategies than any potential global signal associated with the Chicxulub bolide impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. Butrim
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, United States
- Department of Geology and Geophysics and Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States
| | - Dana L. Royer
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, United States
| | - Ian M. Miller
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO, United States
| | | | - Nicole Neu-Yagle
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO, United States
| | - Tyler R. Lyson
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO, United States
| | - Kirk R. Johnson
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Richard S. Barclay
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States
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16
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Massive perturbations to atmospheric sulfur in the aftermath of the Chicxulub impact. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2119194119. [PMID: 35312339 PMCID: PMC9168947 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2119194119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Sulfur isotopes confirm a key role for atmospheric sulfur gases in climatic cooling, mass extinction, and the demise of dinosaurs and other global biota after the Chicxulub bolide impact at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. The sulfur isotope anomalies are confined to beds containing ejecta and, in the immediately overlying sediments, are temporally unrelated to known episodes of volcanism that also bracket this event, further addressing the controversial role of the Deccan Traps in the extinction. Sulfate aerosols have long been implicated as a primary forcing agent of climate change and mass extinction in the aftermath of the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub bolide impact. However, uncertainty remains regarding the quantity, residence time, and degree to which impact-derived sulfur transited the stratosphere, where its climatic impact would have been maximized. Here, we present evidence of mass-independent fractionation of sulfur isotopes (S-MIF) preserved in Chicxulub impact ejecta materials deposited in a marine environment in the Gulf Coastal Plain of North America. The mass anomalous sulfur is present in Cretaceous–Paleogene event deposits but also extends into Early Paleogene sediments. These measurements cannot be explained by mass conservation effects or thermochemical sulfate reduction and therefore require sulfur-bearing gases in an atmosphere substantially different from the modern. Our data cannot discriminate between potential source reaction(s) that produced the S-MIF, but stratospheric photolysis of SO2 derived from the target rock or carbonyl sulfide produced by biomass burning are the most parsimonious explanations. Given that the ultimate fate of both of these gases is oxidation to sulfate aerosols, our data provide direct evidence for a long hypothesized primary role for sulfate aerosols in the postimpact winter and global mass extinction.
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17
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Wang ZX, Liu SA, Li S, Liu D, Liu J. Linking deep CO2 outgassing to cratonic destruction. Natl Sci Rev 2022; 9:nwac001. [PMID: 35673528 PMCID: PMC9166544 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwac001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2021] [Revised: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Outgassing of carbon dioxide from the Earth's interior regulates the surface climate through deep time. Here we examine the role of cratonic destruction in mantle CO2 outgassing via collating and presenting new data for Paleozoic kimberlites, Mesozoic basaltic rocks and their mantle xenoliths from the eastern North China Craton (NCC), which underwent extensive destruction in the early Cretaceous. High Ca/Al and low Ti/Eu and δ26Mg are widely observed in lamprophyres and mantle xenoliths, which demonstrates that the cratonic lithospheric mantle (CLM) was pervasively metasomatized by recycled carbonates. Raman analysis of bubble-bearing melt inclusions shows that redox melting of the C-rich CLM produced carbonated silicate melts with high CO2 content. The enormous quantities of CO2 in these magmas, together with substantial CO2 degassing from the carbonated melt–CLM reaction and crustal heating, indicate that destruction of the eastern NCC resulted in rapid and extensive mantle CO2 emission, which partly contributed to the early Cretaceous greenhouse climate episode.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhao-Xue Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China
| | - Sheng-Ao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China
| | - Shuguang Li
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China
| | - Di Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China
| | - Jingao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing100083, China
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18
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Abstract
The ancient idea of the balance of nature continues to influence modern perspectives on global environmental change. Assumptions of stable biogeochemical steady states and linear responses to perturbation are widely employed in the interpretation of geochemical records. Here, we review the dynamics of the marine carbon cycle and its interactions with climate and life over geologic time, focusing on what the record of past changes can teach us about stability and instability in the Earth system. Emerging themes include the role of amplifying feedbacks in producing past carbon cycle disruptions, the importance of critical rates of change in the context of mass extinctions and potential Earth system tipping points, and the application of these ideas to the modern unbalanced carbon cycle. A comprehensive dynamical understanding of the marine record of global environmental disruption will be of great value in understanding the long-term consequences of anthropogenic change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantin W Arnscheidt
- Lorenz Center, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; ,
| | - Daniel H Rothman
- Lorenz Center, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; ,
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19
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Roy S, Ghosh S, Sanyal P. Carbon reservoir perturbations induced by Deccan volcanism: Stable isotope and biomolecular perspectives from shallow marine environment in Eastern India. GEOBIOLOGY 2022; 20:22-40. [PMID: 34519399 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The Deccan Traps in Western India is hypothesized to have caused significant fluctuations in climatic condition and organic matter (OM) productivity across the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary (K/PgB). The periodic release of large amounts of volatiles into the atmosphere is thought to drive these changes. Yet, direct impact of volcanism on the carbon cycle and ecosystem remains relatively unconstrained. For the first time, we attempt to trace changes in both marine and terrestrial carbon reservoirs from pre- and intervolcanic sedimentary units (infra- and inter-trappeans respectively) from Rajahmundry, ~1500 km SE of main eruption sites in Western India. Molecular level characterization of OM and stable isotope composition of carbonates (δ13 Ccarb ), bulk OM (δ13 Corg ), and n-alkane (δ13 Calk and δDalk ) have been analysed to provide a chemo-stratigraphic framework. In Rajahmundry, high CO2 concentration estimated from infra-trappean carbonate nodule is synchronous with the onset of the Deccan Traps and the Late Maastrichtian warming episode. Impact of the warming event is reflected in Rajahmundry from a major shift in the terrestrial ecosystem. Marine OM production also seems to have been low throughout the infra-trappean. A steady decrease in δ13 Ccarb values, increase in mortality rates and dwarfism in invertebrates immediately below the first volcanic units in Rajahmundry suggest stressed conditions from eruption in the western part of India ~40-60 kyrs prior to K/PgB. A significant increase in heterotrophic activity is observed after the volcanic deposits in Rajahmundry that seems to have controlled the marine carbon reservoir for a maximum of ~200 kyrs after the boundary. Advent of pteridophytes, increase in carbon content and positive shifts in δ13 Ccarb and δ13 Calk values in the upper inter-trappean units mark the onset of recovery in terrestrial and marine environments. Overall, our results suggest significant perturbations in the carbon reservoir as a consequence of the Deccan eruption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sohom Roy
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Nadia, West Bengal, India
| | - Sambit Ghosh
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Nadia, West Bengal, India
| | - Prasanta Sanyal
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Nadia, West Bengal, India
- Centre for Climate and Environmental Studies, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Nadia, West Bengal, India
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20
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Graham RJ. High pCO 2 Reduces Sensitivity to CO 2 Perturbations on Temperate, Earth-like Planets Throughout Most of Habitable Zone. ASTROBIOLOGY 2021; 21:1406-1420. [PMID: 34375145 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The nearly logarithmic radiative impact of CO2 means that planets near the outer edge of the liquid water habitable zone (HZ) require ∼106 × more CO2 to maintain temperatures that are conducive to standing liquid water on the planetary surface than their counterparts near the inner edge. This logarithmic radiative response also means that atmospheric CO2 changes of a given mass will have smaller temperature effects on higher pCO2 planets. Ocean pH is linked to atmospheric pCO2 through seawater carbonate speciation and calcium carbonate dissolution/precipitation, and the response of pH to changes in pCO2 also decreases at higher initial pCO2. Here, we use idealized climate and ocean chemistry models to demonstrate that CO2 perturbations large enough to cause catastrophic changes to surface temperature and ocean pH on temperate, low-pCO2 planets in the innermost region of the HZ are likely to have much smaller effects on planets with higher pCO2, as may be the case for terrestrial planets with active carbonate-silicate cycles receiving less instellation than the Earth. Major bouts of extraterrestrial fossil fuel combustion or volcanic CO2 outgassing on high-pCO2 planets in the mid-to-outer HZ should have mild or negligible impacts on surface temperature and ocean pH. Owing to low pCO2, Phanerozoic Earth's surface environment may be unusually volatile compared with similar planets receiving lower instellation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J Graham
- Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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21
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Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5511. [PMID: 34535650 PMCID: PMC8448769 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25711-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Harmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history, the end-Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before any trace of post-extinction recovery vegetation but recurred episodically for >100 kyrs. During the following 3 Myrs, algae and bacteria thrived within short-lived, poorly-oxygenated, and likely toxic lakes and rivers. Comparisons to global deep-time records indicate that microbial blooms are persistent freshwater ecological stressors during warming-driven extinction events. Harmful algal and bacterial blooms are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. From the Sydney Basin, Australia, this study uses fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data to reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the end-Permian event and that blooms have consistently followed warming-related extinction events, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for millennia.
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22
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Yamahira K, Ansai S, Kakioka R, Yaguchi H, Kon T, Montenegro J, Kobayashi H, Fujimoto S, Kimura R, Takehana Y, Setiamarga DHE, Takami Y, Tanaka R, Maeda K, Tran HD, Koizumi N, Morioka S, Bounsong V, Watanabe K, Musikasinthorn P, Tun S, Yun LKC, Masengi KWA, Anoop VK, Raghavan R, Kitano J. Mesozoic origin and 'out-of-India' radiation of ricefishes (Adrianichthyidae). Biol Lett 2021; 17:20210212. [PMID: 34343438 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Indian subcontinent has an origin geologically different from Eurasia, but many terrestrial animal and plant species on it have congeneric or sister species in other parts of Asia, especially in the Southeast. This faunal and floral similarity between India and Southeast Asia is explained by either of the two biogeographic scenarios, 'into-India' or 'out-of-India'. Phylogenies based on complete mitochondrial genomes and five nuclear genes were undertaken for ricefishes (Adrianichthyidae) to examine which of these two biogeographic scenarios fits better. We found that Oryzias setnai, the only adrianichthyid distributed in and endemic to the Western Ghats, a mountain range running parallel to the western coast of the Indian subcontinent, is sister to all other adrianichthyids from eastern India and Southeast-East Asia. Divergence time estimates and ancestral area reconstructions reveal that this western Indian species diverged in the late Mesozoic during the northward drift of the Indian subcontinent. These findings indicate that adrianichthyids dispersed eastward 'out-of-India' after the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia, and subsequently diversified in Southeast-East Asia. A review of geographic distributions of 'out-of-India' taxa reveals that they may have largely fuelled or modified the biodiversity of Eurasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazunori Yamahira
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Satoshi Ansai
- Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Ryo Kakioka
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Hajime Yaguchi
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.,School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Japan
| | - Takeshi Kon
- Center for Strategic Research Project, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Javier Montenegro
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Hirozumi Kobayashi
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Shingo Fujimoto
- Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Ryosuke Kimura
- Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Yusuke Takehana
- Faculty of Bio-Science, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, Japan
| | - Davin H E Setiamarga
- Department of Applied Chemistry and Biochemistry, National Institute of Technology, Wakayama College, Wakayama, Japan
| | - Yasuoki Takami
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Rieko Tanaka
- World Medaka Aquarium, Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Ken Maeda
- Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Hau D Tran
- Faculty of Biology, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Noriyuki Koizumi
- Strategic Planning Headquarters, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Shinsuke Morioka
- Fisheries Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan
| | | | - Katsutoshi Watanabe
- Division of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | | | - Sein Tun
- Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
| | - L K C Yun
- Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Nyaungshwe, Myanmar
| | | | - V K Anoop
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India
| | - Rajeev Raghavan
- Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India
| | - Jun Kitano
- Ecological Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan
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23
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Truong N, Lunine JI. Volcanically extruded phosphides as an abiotic source of Venusian phosphine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2021689118. [PMID: 34253608 PMCID: PMC8307446 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2021689118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We hypothesize that trace amounts of phosphides formed in the mantle are a plausible abiotic source of the Venusian phosphine observed by Greaves et al. [Nat. Astron., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1174-4 (2020)]. In this hypothesis, small amounts of phosphides (P3- bound in metals such as iron), sourced from a deep mantle, are brought to the surface by volcanism. They are then ejected into the atmosphere in the form of volcanic dust by explosive volcanic eruptions, which were invoked by others to explain the episodic changes of sulfur dioxide seen in the atmosphere [Esposito, Science 223, 1072-1074 (1984)]. There they react with sulfuric acid in the aerosol layer to form phosphine (2 P3- + 3H2SO4 = 2PH3 + 3SO42-). We take issue with the conclusion of Bains et al. [arXiv:2009.06499 (2020)] that the volcanic rates for such a mechanism would have to be implausibly high. We consider a mantle with the redox state similar to the Earth, magma originating deep in the mantle-a likely scenario for the origin of plume volcanism on Venus-and episodically high but plausible rates of volcanism on a Venus bereft of plate tectonics. We conclude that volcanism could supply an adequate amount of phosphide to produce phosphine. Our conclusion is supported by remote sensing observations of the Venusian atmosphere and surface that have been interpreted as indicative of currently active volcanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Truong
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853;
- Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
| | - J I Lunine
- Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853;
- Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
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24
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Major, Trace, and Rare-Earth Element Geochemistry of Nb-V Rich Andradite-Schorlomite-Morimotoite Garnet from Ambadungar-Saidivasan Alkaline Carbonatite Complex, India: Implication for the Role of Hydrothermal Fluid-Induced Metasomatism. MINERALS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/min11070756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In situ major, trace and rare-earth element composition of Ti-rich garnets from Ambadungar-Saidivasan alkaline carbonatite complex (ASACC) are presented to constrain its likely genesis. The garnets are characterized by high andradite (42.7–57.3), schorolomite (22.0–31.0), and morimotoite (15.6–26.5) end members. No distinct chemical zonation is noticed except for minor variations in Ti content. The garnets are enriched in LREE (average 731 ppm) and relatively depleted in HREE (average 186 ppm) and show an M-type first tetrad that leads to a convex upward pattern between Ce and Gd. Mildly positive to no Eu anomalies are observed (Eu/Eu* = 1.06–1.17). The REE patterns (LaN/YbN = 1.11–2.11) are similar to those of garnets from skarn deposits. The presence of tetrad effect in the LREE pattern suggests an active role of metasomatic processes involving hydrothermal fluids during the growth of the garnets. These garnets also contain high Nb (282–2283 ppm) and V (1083–2155 ppm) concentrations, which stand out against the composition of the host rock. Therefore, late-stage metasomatic reactions of earlier formed minerals with hydrothermal fluid enriched in Fe, Si, LREE, Nb, V, and Ti led to the formation of garnet. The primary source for these elements could be magnetite, ilmenite, and pyrochlore present in different varieties of carbonatites in the ASACC, with the required elements being released during their interaction with the hydrothermal fluid. The hydrothermal fluid was likely to be moderately acidic, and having fluoride and sulfate as the primary ligands.
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Schaltegger U, Ovtcharova M, Gaynor SP, Schoene B, Wotzlaw JF, Davies JFHL, Farina F, Greber ND, Szymanowski D, Chelle-Michou C. Long-term repeatability and interlaboratory reproducibility of high-precision ID-TIMS U-Pb geochronology. JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY 2021; 36:1466-1477. [PMID: 34276120 PMCID: PMC8262554 DOI: 10.1039/d1ja00116g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Age determination of minerals using the U-Pb technique is widely used to quantify time in Earth's history. A number of geochronology laboratories produce the highest precision U-Pb dates employing the EARTHTIME 202Pb-205Pb-233U-235U tracer solution for isotope dilution, and the EARTHTIME ET100 and ET2000 solutions for system calibration and laboratory intercalibration. Here, we report ET100 and ET2000 solution data from the geochronology laboratory of University of Geneva obtained between 2008 and 2021 and compare the most recent data with results from the geochronology laboratories of Princeton University and ETH Zürich. This compilation demonstrates that (i) the choice of the thermal ionization mass spectrometer model has no influence on precision and accuracy of the data; (ii) the often observed excess scatter of apparent ET100 solution 206Pb/238U dates can be mitigated by more careful tracer-sample equilibration; and (iii) natural zircon reference materials are not suitable for evaluating intra-laboratory repeatability and inter-laboratory reproducibility, since they combine several phenomena of natural system complexities (especially domains of different age within the same zircon grain, and residual loss of radiogenic lead in domains of high decay damage after chemical abrasion pre-treatment). We provide our best estimates of apparent dates for the ET100 solution (206Pb/238U date, 100.173 ± 0.003 Ma), for ET2000 solution (207Pb/206Pb date, 1999.935 ± 0.063 Ma), as well as for natural reference zircon Temora-2 (206Pb/238U date, 417.353 ± 0.052 Ma). These data will allow U-Pb laboratories to evaluate their analytical performance and to independently calibrate non-EARTHTIME tracer solutions in use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Urs Schaltegger
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva Geneva Switzerland
| | - Maria Ovtcharova
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva Geneva Switzerland
| | - Sean P Gaynor
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva Geneva Switzerland
| | - Blair Schoene
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University Princeton USA
| | - Jörn-Frederik Wotzlaw
- Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
| | - Joshua F H L Davies
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Université de Québéc à Montréal Montreal Canada
| | - Federico Farina
- Earth Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano Milano Italy
| | | | | | - Cyril Chelle-Michou
- Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
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Fingerprinting the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary impact with Zn isotopes. Nat Commun 2021; 12:4128. [PMID: 34226532 PMCID: PMC8257607 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24419-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2020] [Accepted: 06/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Numerous geochemical anomalies exist at the K-Pg boundary that indicate the addition of extraterrestrial materials; however, none fingerprint volatilization, a key process that occurs during large bolide impacts. Stable Zn isotopes are an exceptional indicator of volatility-related processes, where partial vaporization of Zn leaves the residuum enriched in its heavy isotopes. Here, we present Zn isotope data for sedimentary rock layers of the K-Pg boundary, which display heavier Zn isotope compositions and lower Zn concentrations relative to surrounding sedimentary rocks, the carbonate platform at the impact site, and most carbonaceous chondrites. Neither volcanic events nor secondary alteration during weathering and diagenesis can explain the Zn concentration and isotope signatures present. The systematically higher Zn isotope values within the boundary layer sediments provide an isotopic fingerprint of partially evaporated material within the K-Pg boundary layer, thus earmarking Zn volatilization during impact and subsequent ejecta transport associated with an impact at the K-Pg.
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Condamine FL, Guinot G, Benton MJ, Currie PJ. Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3833. [PMID: 34188028 PMCID: PMC8242047 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The question why non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago (Ma) remains unresolved because of the coarseness of the fossil record. A sudden extinction caused by an asteroid is the most accepted hypothesis but it is debated whether dinosaurs were in decline or not before the impact. We analyse the speciation-extinction dynamics for six key dinosaur families, and find a decline across dinosaurs, where diversification shifted to a declining-diversity pattern ~76 Ma. We investigate the influence of ecological and physical factors, and find that the decline of dinosaurs was likely driven by global climate cooling and herbivorous diversity drop. The latter is likely due to hadrosaurs outcompeting other herbivores. We also estimate that extinction risk is related to species age during the decline, suggesting a lack of evolutionary novelty or adaptation to changing environments. These results support an environmentally driven decline of non-avian dinosaurs well before the asteroid impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien L Condamine
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier | CNRS|IRD|EPHE), Montpellier, France.
| | - Guillaume Guinot
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier | CNRS|IRD|EPHE), Montpellier, France
| | - Michael J Benton
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Philip J Currie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Pickersgill AE, Mark DF, Lee MR, Kelley SP, Jolley DW. The Boltysh impact structure: An early Danian impact event during recovery from the K-Pg mass extinction. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/25/eabe6530. [PMID: 34144979 PMCID: PMC8213223 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe6530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Both the Chicxulub and Boltysh impact events are associated with the K-Pg boundary. While Chicxulub is firmly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, the temporal relationship of the ~24-km-diameter Boltysh impact to these events is uncertain, although it is thought to have occurred 2 to 5 ka before the mass extinction. Here, we conduct the first direct geochronological comparison of Boltysh to the K-Pg boundary. Our 40Ar/39Ar age of 65.39 ± 0.14/0.16 Ma shows that the impact occurred ~0.65 Ma after the mass extinction. At that time, the climate was recovering from the effects of the Chicxulub impact and Deccan trap flood volcanism. This age shows that Boltysh has a close temporal association with the Lower C29n hyperthermal recorded by global sediment archives and in the Boltysh crater lake sediments. The temporal coincidence raises the possibility that even a small impact event could disrupt recovery of the Earth system from catastrophic events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annemarie E Pickersgill
- School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, UK.
- Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, UK
| | - Darren F Mark
- Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, UK
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Martin R Lee
- School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Gregory Building, Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow, UK
| | - Simon P Kelley
- School of Earth and Environment, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - David W Jolley
- Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
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29
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Schaen AJ, Schoene B, Dufek J, Singer BS, Eddy MP, Jicha BR, Cottle JM. Transient rhyolite melt extraction to produce a shallow granitic pluton. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:7/21/eabf0604. [PMID: 34138741 PMCID: PMC8133745 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf0604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Rhyolitic melt that fuels explosive eruptions often originates in the upper crust via extraction from crystal-rich sources, implying an evolutionary link between volcanism and residual plutonism. However, the time scales over which these systems evolve are mainly understood through erupted deposits, limiting confirmation of this connection. Exhumed plutons that preserve a record of high-silica melt segregation provide a critical subvolcanic perspective on rhyolite generation, permitting comparison between time scales of long-term assembly and transient melt extraction events. Here, U-Pb zircon petrochronology and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology constrain silicic melt segregation and residual cumulate formation in a ~7 to 6 Ma, shallow (3 to 7 km depth) Andean pluton. Thermo-petrological simulations linked to a zircon saturation model map spatiotemporal melt flux distributions. Our findings suggest that ~50 km3 of rhyolitic melt was extracted in ~130 ka, transient pluton assembly that indicates the thermal viability of advanced magma differentiation in the upper crust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allen J Schaen
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| | - Blair Schoene
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Josef Dufek
- Earth Sciences Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Brad S Singer
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Michael P Eddy
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Brian R Jicha
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - John M Cottle
- Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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Hernandez Nava A, Black BA, Gibson SA, Bodnar RJ, Renne PR, Vanderkluysen L. Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO 2 outgassing and pre-KPB global climate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2007797118. [PMID: 33782114 PMCID: PMC8040825 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2007797118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A 2 to 4 °C warming episode, known as the Latest Maastrichtian warming event (LMWE), preceded the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction at 66.05 ± 0.08 Ma and has been linked with the onset of voluminous Deccan Traps volcanism. Here, we use direct measurements of melt-inclusion CO2 concentrations and trace-element proxies for CO2 to test the hypothesis that early Deccan magmatism triggered this warming interval. We report CO2 concentrations from NanoSIMS and Raman spectroscopic analyses of melt-inclusion glass and vapor bubbles hosted in magnesian olivines from pre-KPB Deccan primitive basalts. Reconstructed melt-inclusion CO2 concentrations range up to 0.23 to 1.2 wt% CO2 for lavas from the Saurashtra Peninsula and the Thakurvadi Formation in the Western Ghats region. Trace-element proxies for CO2 concentration (Ba and Nb) yield estimates of initial melt concentrations of 0.4 to 1.3 wt% CO2 prior to degassing. Our data imply carbon saturation and degassing of Deccan magmas initiated at high pressures near the Moho or in the lower crust. Furthermore, we find that the earliest Deccan magmas were more CO2 rich, which we hypothesize facilitated more efficient flushing and outgassing from intrusive magmas. Based on carbon cycle modeling and estimates of preserved lava volumes for pre-KPB lavas, we find that volcanic CO2 outgassing alone remains insufficient to account for the magnitude of the observed latest Maastrichtian warming. However, accounting for intrusive outgassing can reconcile early carbon-rich Deccan Traps outgassing with observed changes in climate and atmospheric pCO2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Hernandez Nava
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016
| | - Benjamin A Black
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016;
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031
| | - Sally A Gibson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EQ Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J Bodnar
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060
| | - Paul R Renne
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA 94709
| | - Loÿc Vanderkluysen
- Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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The Tetrapod Fossil Record from the Uppermost Maastrichtian of the Ibero-Armorican Island: An Integrative Review Based on the Outcrops of the Western Tremp Syncline (Aragón, Huesca Province, NE Spain). GEOSCIENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/geosciences11040162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The South-Pyrenean Basin (northeastern Spain) has yielded a rich and diverse record of Upper Cretaceous (uppermost Campanian−uppermost Maastrichtian) vertebrate fossils, including the remains of some of the last European dinosaurs prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. In this work, we update and characterize the vertebrate fossil record of the Arén Sandstone and Tremp formations in the Western Tremp Syncline, which is located in the Aragonese area of the Southern Pyrenees. The transitional and continental successions of these sedimentary units are dated to the late Maastrichtian, and exploration of their outcrops has led to the discovery of numerous fossil remains (bones, eggshells, and tracks) of dinosaurs, including hadrosauroids, sauropods, and theropods, along with other tetrapods such as crocodylomorphs, testudines, pterosaurs, squamates, and amphibians. In particular, this fossil record contains some of the youngest lambeosaurine hadrosaurids (Arenysaurus and Blasisaurus) and Mesozoic crocodylomorphs (Arenysuchus and Agaresuchus subjuniperus) in Europe, complementing the lower Maastrichtian fossil sites of the Eastern Tremp Syncline. In addition, faunal comparison with the fossil record of Hațeg island reveals the great change in the dinosaur assemblages resulting from the arrival of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids on the Ibero-Armorican island, whereas those on Haţeg remained stable. In the light of its paleontological richness, its stratigraphic continuity, and its calibration within the last few hundred thousand years of the Cretaceous, the Western Tremp Syncline is one of the best places in Europe to study the latest vertebrate assemblages of the European Archipelago before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
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Witts JD, Landman NH, Garb MP, Irizarry KM, Larina E, Thibault N, Razmjooei MJ, Yancey TE, Myers CE. Cephalopods from the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) Boundary Interval on the Brazos River, Texas, and Extinction of the Ammonites. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2021. [DOI: 10.1206/3964.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- James D. Witts
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | - Neil H. Landman
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, New York
| | - Matthew P. Garb
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College, New York
| | - Kayla M. Irizarry
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
| | - Ekaterina Larina
- University of Southern California, Department of Earth Sciences, Los Angeles, California
| | - Nicolas Thibault
- Department of Geosciences and Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mohammad J. Razmjooei
- Department of Geosciences and Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas E. Yancey
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
| | - Corinne E. Myers
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Ruban DA. Paleozoic-Mesozoic Eustatic Changes and Mass Extinctions: New Insights from Event Interpretation. Life (Basel) 2020; 10:life10110281. [PMID: 33202671 PMCID: PMC7698083 DOI: 10.3390/life10110281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Revised: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent eustatic reconstructions allow for reconsidering the relationships between the fifteen Paleozoic–Mesozoic mass extinctions (mid-Cambrian, end-Ordovician, Llandovery/Wenlock, Late Devonian, Devonian/Carboniferous, mid-Carboniferous, end-Guadalupian, end-Permian, two mid-Triassic, end-Triassic, Early Jurassic, Jurassic/Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and end-Cretaceous extinctions) and global sea-level changes. The relationships between eustatic rises/falls and period-long eustatic trends are examined. Many eustatic events at the mass extinction intervals were not anomalous. Nonetheless, the majority of the considered mass extinctions coincided with either interruptions or changes in the ongoing eustatic trends. It cannot be excluded that such interruptions and changes could have facilitated or even triggered biodiversity losses in the marine realm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry A Ruban
- K.G. Razumovsky Moscow State University of Technologies and Management (the First Cossack University), Zemlyanoy Val Street 73, 109004 Moscow, Russia
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34
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Low geomagnetic field strength during End-Cretaceous Deccan volcanism and whole mantle convection. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10743. [PMID: 32612206 PMCID: PMC7329830 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67245-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowledge about long-term variation of the geomagnetic dipole field remains in its nascent stage because of the paucity of reliable experimental data over geological periods. Here, we present the first robust experimental data from the largest Cretaceous flood basalt province on Earth, the ~65–66 Ma Deccan basalt within a thick (1250 m) unbiased stratigraphic section down to the basement, recovered from a drill hole of the Koyna Deep Scientific Drilling Project in the Western Ghats, India. Critical analysis of the result along with similar results of the Cretaceous age find that (i) the dipole moment during the end Cretaceous Deccan eruption is the lowest in whole of Cretaceous (ii) dipole moment at the onset/termination of the Cretaceous Normal Superchron is apparently lower relative to that in mid-superchron, however, such differences cannot be deciphered in shorter polarities probably because of insufficient time to develop recognizable variations (iii) inverse relation between dipole moment and reversal rate is lacking and (iv) a cause and effect relation between core-mantle boundary heat flux and low dipole moment that appears to be the principle governing factor in forming the Large Igneous Provinces on the surface of earth.
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Abstract
We present a quantitative test of end-Cretaceous extinction scenarios and how these would have affected dinosaur habitats. Combining climate and ecological modeling tools, we demonstrate a substantial detrimental effect on dinosaur habitats caused by an impact winter scenario triggered by the Chicxulub asteroid. We were not able to obtain such an extinction state with several modeling scenarios of Deccan volcanism. We further show that the concomitant prolonged eruption of the Deccan traps might have acted as an ameliorating agent, buffering the negative effects on climate and global ecosystems that the asteroid impact produced at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. The Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, 66 Ma, included the demise of non-avian dinosaurs. Intense debate has focused on the relative roles of Deccan volcanism and the Chicxulub asteroid impact as kill mechanisms for this event. Here, we combine fossil-occurrence data with paleoclimate and habitat suitability models to evaluate dinosaur habitability in the wake of various asteroid impact and Deccan volcanism scenarios. Asteroid impact models generate a prolonged cold winter that suppresses potential global dinosaur habitats. Conversely, long-term forcing from Deccan volcanism (carbon dioxide [CO2]-induced warming) leads to increased habitat suitability. Short-term (aerosol cooling) volcanism still allows equatorial habitability. These results support the asteroid impact as the main driver of the non-avian dinosaur extinction. By contrast, induced warming from volcanism mitigated the most extreme effects of asteroid impact, potentially reducing the extinction severity.
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MacLennan SA, Eddy MP, Merschat AJ, Mehra AK, Crockford PW, Maloof AC, Southworth CS, Schoene B. Geologic evidence for an icehouse Earth before the Sturtian global glaciation. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaay6647. [PMID: 32577504 PMCID: PMC7286673 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay6647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Snowball Earth episodes, times when the planet was covered in ice, represent the most extreme climate events in Earth's history. Yet, the mechanisms that drive their initiation remain poorly constrained. Current climate models require a cool Earth to enter a Snowball state. However, existing geologic evidence suggests that Earth had a stable, warm, and ice-free climate before the Neoproterozoic Sturtian global glaciation [ca. 717 million years (Ma) ago]. Here, we present eruption ages for three felsic volcanic units interbedded with glaciolacustrine sedimentary rocks from southwest Virginia, USA, that demonstrate that glacially influenced sedimentation occurred at tropical latitudes ca. 751 Ma ago. Our findings are the first geologic evidence of a cool climate teetering on the edge of global glaciation several million years before the Sturtian Snowball Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott A. MacLennan
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Michael P. Eddy
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Arthur J. Merschat
- Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, United States Geological Survey, MS926A, Reston, VA, USA
| | - Akshay K. Mehra
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Peter W. Crockford
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Adam C. Maloof
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - C. Scott Southworth
- Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, United States Geological Survey, MS926A, Reston, VA, USA
| | - Blair Schoene
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
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Wiens D, Sweet T, Worsley T. Validating the New Paradigm for Extinction: Overcoming 200 Years of Historical Neglect, Philosophical Misconception, and Inadequate Language. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1086/709086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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38
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Hull PM, Bornemann A, Penman DE, Henehan MJ, Norris RD, Wilson PA, Blum P, Alegret L, Batenburg SJ, Bown PR, Bralower TJ, Cournede C, Deutsch A, Donner B, Friedrich O, Jehle S, Kim H, Kroon D, Lippert PC, Loroch D, Moebius I, Moriya K, Peppe DJ, Ravizza GE, Röhl U, Schueth JD, Sepúlveda J, Sexton PF, Sibert EC, Śliwińska KK, Summons RE, Thomas E, Westerhold T, Whiteside JH, Yamaguchi T, Zachos JC. On impact and volcanism across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Science 2020; 367:266-272. [PMID: 31949074 DOI: 10.1126/science.aay5055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction is vigorously debated, owing to the occurrence of a very large bolide impact and flood basalt volcanism near the boundary. Disentangling their relative importance is complicated by uncertainty regarding kill mechanisms and the relative timing of volcanogenic outgassing, impact, and extinction. We used carbon cycle modeling and paleotemperature records to constrain the timing of volcanogenic outgassing. We found support for major outgassing beginning and ending distinctly before the impact, with only the impact coinciding with mass extinction and biologically amplified carbon cycle change. Our models show that these extinction-related carbon cycle changes would have allowed the ocean to absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide, thus limiting the global warming otherwise expected from postextinction volcanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pincelli M Hull
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
| | - André Bornemann
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, 30655 Hannover, Germany
| | - Donald E Penman
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Michael J Henehan
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Richard D Norris
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Paul A Wilson
- National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Peter Blum
- International Ocean Discovery Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA
| | - Laia Alegret
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra and Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
| | | | - Paul R Bown
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Timothy J Bralower
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Cecile Cournede
- CEREGE, Université Aix-Marseille, 13545 Aix en Provence, France.,Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Alexander Deutsch
- Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Barbara Donner
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Oliver Friedrich
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sofie Jehle
- Institut für Geophysik und Geologie, Universität Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hojung Kim
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Dick Kroon
- School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
| | - Peter C Lippert
- Department of Geology & Geophysics, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Dominik Loroch
- Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Iris Moebius
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Department of Biogeochemical Systems, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Kazuyoshi Moriya
- Department of Earth Sciences, Waseda University, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan
| | - Daniel J Peppe
- Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA
| | - Gregory E Ravizza
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - Ursula Röhl
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | | | - Julio Sepúlveda
- Department of Geological Sciences and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Philip F Sexton
- School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
| | - Elizabeth C Sibert
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.,Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.,Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Kasia K Śliwińska
- Department of Stratigraphy, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Roger E Summons
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ellen Thomas
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Thomas Westerhold
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany
| | - Jessica H Whiteside
- National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
| | | | - James C Zachos
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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Skeleton of a Cretaceous mammal from Madagascar reflects long-term insularity. Nature 2020; 581:421-427. [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2234-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Meyer KW, Petersen SV, Lohmann KC, Blum JD, Washburn SJ, Johnson MW, Gleason JD, Kurz AY, Winkelstern IZ. Biogenic carbonate mercury and marine temperature records reveal global influence of Late Cretaceous Deccan Traps. Nat Commun 2019; 10:5356. [PMID: 31844055 PMCID: PMC6915775 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13366-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The climate and environmental significance of the Deccan Traps large igneous province of west-central India has been the subject of debate in paleontological communities. Nearly one million years of semi-continuous Deccan eruptive activity spanned the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, which is renowned for the extinction of most dinosaur groups. Whereas the Chicxulub impactor is acknowledged as the principal cause of these extinctions, the Deccan Traps eruptions are believed to have contributed to extinction patterns and/or enhanced ecological pressures on biota during this interval of geologic time. We present the first coupled records of biogenic carbonate clumped isotope paleothermometry and mercury concentrations as measured from a broad geographic distribution of marine mollusk fossils. These fossils preserve evidence of simultaneous increases in coastal marine temperatures and mercury concentrations at a global scale, which appear attributable to volcanic CO2 and mercury emissions. These early findings warrant further investigation with additional records of combined Late Cretaceous temperatures and mercury concentrations of biogenic carbonate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle W Meyer
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
| | - Sierra V Petersen
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
| | - Kyger C Lohmann
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Joel D Blum
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Spencer J Washburn
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Marcus W Johnson
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - James D Gleason
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Aaron Y Kurz
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Ian Z Winkelstern
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1100N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.,Geology Department, Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401, USA
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41
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De Lena LF, Taylor D, Guex J, Bartolini A, Adatte T, van Acken D, Spangenberg JE, Samankassou E, Vennemann T, Schaltegger U. The driving mechanisms of the carbon cycle perturbations in the late Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic). Sci Rep 2019; 9:18430. [PMID: 31804521 PMCID: PMC6895128 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54593-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The Early Jurassic (late Pliensbachian to early Toarcian) was a period marked by extinctions, climate fluctuations, and oceanic anoxia. Although the causes of the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxia Event (OAE) have been fairly well studied, the events that lead to the Toarcian OAE, i.e. the events in the late Pliensbachian, have not been well constrained. Scenarios of the driving mechanism of biotic and environmental changes of the late Pliensbachian have ranged from LIP volcanism (the Karoo-Ferrar LIP), ocean stagnation, and changing ocean circulation, to orbital forcing. The temporal relationship between the Karoo LIP and the late Pliensbachian (Kunae-Carlottense ammonite Zones) are investigated in an effort to evaluate a causal relationship. We present the first absolute timescale on the Kunae and Carlottense Zones based on precise high-precision U-Pb geochronology, and additional geochemical proxies, for a range of environmental proxies such as bulk organic carbon isotope compositions, Hg concentration, and Hg/TOC ratios, and Re-Os isotopes to further explore their causal relationship. The data presented here show that causality between the Karoo LIP and the late Pliensbachian events cannot be maintained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis F De Lena
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - David Taylor
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Portland, OR, USA.,Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Jean Guex
- Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Annachiara Bartolini
- Center for Research on Palaeontology - Paris, UMR7207, MNHN, CNRS, SU, Paris, France
| | - Thierry Adatte
- Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - David van Acken
- Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), UCD School of Earth Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Jorge E Spangenberg
- Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Elias Samankassou
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Urs Schaltegger
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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42
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Lyson TR, Miller IM, Bercovici AD, Weissenburger K, Fuentes AJ, Clyde WC, Hagadorn JW, Butrim MJ, Johnson KR, Fleming RF, Barclay RS, Maccracken SA, Lloyd B, Wilson GP, Krause DW, Chester SGB. Exceptional continental record of biotic recovery after the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction. Science 2019; 366:977-983. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aay2268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
We report a time-calibrated stratigraphic section in Colorado that contains unusually complete fossils of mammals, reptiles, and plants and elucidates the drivers and tempo of biotic recovery during the poorly known first million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction (KPgE). Within ~100 thousand years (ka) post-KPgE, mammalian taxonomic richness doubled, and maximum mammalian body mass increased to near pre-KPgE levels. A threefold increase in maximum mammalian body mass and dietary niche specialization occurred at ~300 ka post-KPgE, concomitant with increased megafloral standing species richness. The appearance of additional large mammals occurred by ~700 ka post-KPgE, coincident with the first appearance of Leguminosae (the bean family). These concurrent plant and mammal originations and body-mass shifts coincide with warming intervals, suggesting that climate influenced post-KPgE biotic recovery.
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43
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Rapid ocean acidification and protracted Earth system recovery followed the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:22500-22504. [PMID: 31636204 PMCID: PMC6842625 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1905989116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Debate lingers over what caused the last mass extinction 66 million years ago, with intense volcanism and extraterrestrial impact the most widely supported hypotheses. However, without empirical evidence for either’s exact environmental effects, it is difficult to discern which was most important in driving extinction. It is also unclear why recovery of biodiversity and carbon cycling in the oceans was so slow after an apparently sudden extinction event. In this paper, we show (using boron isotopes and Earth system modeling) that the impact caused rapid ocean acidification, and that the resulting ecological collapse in the oceans had long-lasting effects for global carbon cycling and climate. Our data suggest that impact, not volcanism, was key in driving end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary coincides with the Chicxulub bolide impact and also falls within the broader time frame of Deccan trap emplacement. Critically, though, empirical evidence as to how either of these factors could have driven observed extinction patterns and carbon cycle perturbations is still lacking. Here, using boron isotopes in foraminifera, we document a geologically rapid surface-ocean pH drop following the Chicxulub impact, supporting impact-induced ocean acidification as a mechanism for ecological collapse in the marine realm. Subsequently, surface water pH rebounded sharply with the extinction of marine calcifiers and the associated imbalance in the global carbon cycle. Our reconstructed water-column pH gradients, combined with Earth system modeling, indicate that a partial ∼50% reduction in global marine primary productivity is sufficient to explain observed marine carbon isotope patterns at the K-Pg, due to the underlying action of the solubility pump. While primary productivity recovered within a few tens of thousands of years, inefficiency in carbon export to the deep sea lasted much longer. This phased recovery scenario reconciles competing hypotheses previously put forward to explain the K-Pg carbon isotope records, and explains both spatially variable patterns of change in marine productivity across the event and a lack of extinction at the deep sea floor. In sum, we provide insights into the drivers of the last mass extinction, the recovery of marine carbon cycling in a postextinction world, and the way in which marine life imprints its isotopic signal onto the geological record.
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44
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Zhou Z. Dinosaurs: what discoveries are truly revolutionary? Curr Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.06.065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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45
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Abstract
The history of the carbon cycle is punctuated by enigmatic transient changes in the ocean's store of carbon. Mass extinction is always accompanied by such a disruption, but most disruptions are relatively benign. The less calamitous group exhibits a characteristic rate of change whereas greater surges accompany mass extinctions. To better understand these observations, I formulate and analyze a mathematical model that suggests that disruptions are initiated by perturbation of a permanently stable steady state beyond a threshold. The ensuing excitation exhibits the characteristic surge of real disruptions. In this view, the magnitude and timescale of the disruption are properties of the carbon cycle itself rather than its perturbation. Surges associated with mass extinction, however, require additional inputs from external sources such as massive volcanism. Surges are excited when [Formula: see text] enters the oceans at a flux that exceeds a threshold. The threshold depends on the duration of the injection. For injections lasting a time [Formula: see text] y in the modern carbon cycle, the threshold flux is constant; for smaller [Formula: see text], the threshold scales like [Formula: see text] Consequently the unusually strong but geologically brief duration of modern anthropogenic oceanic [Formula: see text] uptake is roughly equivalent, in terms of its potential to excite a major disruption, to relatively weak but longer-lived perturbations associated with massive volcanism in the geologic past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seth Burgess
- U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
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