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Dal Corso J, Mills BJW, Chu D, Newton RJ, Mather TA, Shu W, Wu Y, Tong J, Wignall PB. Permo-Triassic boundary carbon and mercury cycling linked to terrestrial ecosystem collapse. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2962. [PMID: 32528009 PMCID: PMC7289894 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16725-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Records suggest that the Permo-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) involved one of the most severe terrestrial ecosystem collapses of the Phanerozoic. However, it has proved difficult to constrain the extent of the primary productivity loss on land, hindering our understanding of the effects on global biogeochemistry. We build a new biogeochemical model that couples the global Hg and C cycles to evaluate the distinct terrestrial contribution to atmosphere-ocean biogeochemistry separated from coeval volcanic fluxes. We show that the large short-lived Hg spike, and nadirs in δ202Hg and δ13C values at the marine PTME are best explained by a sudden, massive pulse of terrestrial biomass oxidation, while volcanism remains an adequate explanation for the longer-term geochemical changes. Our modelling shows that a massive collapse of terrestrial ecosystems linked to volcanism-driven environmental change triggered significant biogeochemical changes, and cascaded organic matter, nutrients, Hg and other organically-bound species into the marine system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacopo Dal Corso
- School of Earth and Environments, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. .,State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China.
| | - Benjamin J W Mills
- School of Earth and Environments, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
| | - Daoliang Chu
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Robert J Newton
- School of Earth and Environments, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Tamsin A Mather
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Wenchao Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Yuyang Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Jinnan Tong
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
| | - Paul B Wignall
- School of Earth and Environments, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
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