High-resolution SIMS oxygen isotope analysis on conodont apatite from South China and implications for the end-Permian mass extinction

Chen J, Shen SZ, Li XH, Xu YG, Joachimski M, Bowring SA, Erwin DH, Yuan DX, Chen B, Zhang H, Wang Y, Cao CQ, Zheng QF, Mu L (2016)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2016

Journal

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology Elsevier

Publisher: Elsevier

Book Volume: 448

Pages Range: 26-38

DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.11.025

Abstract

Understanding the interplay of climatic and biological events in deep time requires resolving the precise timing and pattern of paleotemperature changes and their temporal relationship with carbon cycle variations and biodiversity fluctuations. In situ oxygen isotope analyses of conodont apatite from South China enables us to reconstruct high-resolution seawater temperature records across the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) intervals in the upper slope (Meishan), lower slope (Shangsi), and carbonate platform (Daijiagou and Liangfengya) settings. Constrained by the latest high-precision geochronological dates and high-resolution conodont biozones, we can establish the temporal and spatial patterns of seawater temperature changes and assess their potential connections with the carbon cycle disruption and biodiversity decline. We find a rapid warming of ~10 °C during the latest Permian-earliest Triassic that postdated the onset of the negative shift in δC by ~81 kyr (thousand years), the abrupt decline in δC by ~32 kyr and the onset of mass extinction by ~23 kyr, which contradicts previous claims that the extreme temperature rise started immediately before or coincided with the onset of mass extinction. Our new evidence indicates that climate warming was most likely not a direct cause for the main pulse of the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), but rather a later participant or a catalyst that increased the pace of the biodiversity decline. In addition, a prominent cooling is recorded in the earliest Changhsingian, with the main phase (a drop of ~8 °C in ~0.2 Ma) confined to the lower part of the Clarkina wangi zone and synchronous with the positive limb of the carbon isotope excursion (CIE) around the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary (WCB) in Meishan and Shangsi. Further long-term and high-resolution studies from other sections are needed to confirm the full contexts and underlying dynamics of the WCB "cooling event".

Authors with CRIS profile

Michael Joachimski Lehrstuhl für Geologie (Exogene Dynamik)

Involved external institutions

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 CN China (CN) Smithsonian Institution US United States (USA) (US) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Chen, J., Shen, S.-Z., Li, X.-H., Xu, Y.-G., Joachimski, M., Bowring, S.A.,... Mu, L. (2016). High-resolution SIMS oxygen isotope analysis on conodont apatite from South China and implications for the end-Permian mass extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 448, 26-38. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.11.025

MLA:

Chen, Jun, et al. "High-resolution SIMS oxygen isotope analysis on conodont apatite from South China and implications for the end-Permian mass extinction." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 448 (2016): 26-38.

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