6533b838fe1ef96bd12a5246
RESEARCH PRODUCT
An enormous sulfur isotope excursion indicates marine anoxia during the end-Triassic mass extinction
Jacopo Dal CorsoJacopo Dal CorsoPaul B. WignallTianchen HeRobert J. NewtonRosemary E. JonesRobert A. JamiesonManuel RigoBenjamin J. W. MillsEmily C. TurnerSimona TodaroAlexander M. DunhillVincenzo RandazzoPietro Di Stefanosubject
Extinction eventBiogeochemical cycleMultidisciplinaryExtinction010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciencesIsotopefungiengineering.material010502 geochemistry & geophysics01 natural sciencesPerturbation (geology)sulfure isotope end Triassic mass extinctionhumanitieschemistry.chemical_compoundPaleontologyδ34SchemistryengineeringPyriteSulfateGeology0105 earth and related environmental sciencesdescription
The role of ocean anoxia as a cause of the end-Triassic marine mass extinction is widely debated. Here, we present carbonate-associated sulfate δ34S data from sections spanning the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic transition, which document synchronous large positive excursions on a global scale occurring in ~50 thousand years. Biogeochemical modeling demonstrates that this S isotope perturbation is best explained by a fivefold increase in global pyrite burial, consistent with large-scale development of marine anoxia on the Panthalassa margin and northwest European shelf. This pyrite burial event coincides with the loss of Triassic taxa seen in the studied sections. Modeling results also indicate that the pre-event ocean sulfate concentration was low (<1 millimolar), a common feature of many Phanerozoic deoxygenation events. We propose that sulfate scarcity preconditions oceans for the development of anoxia during rapid warming events by increasing the benthic methane flux and the resulting bottom-water oxygen demand.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-01 |