Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale
Paleoenvironmental factors such as climate change are often hypothesized as critical for ecosystem changes over evolutionary time scales. Theoretically, these changes should be observable in the fossil record, but the robust linkage of biotic shifts to climate events remains difficult. The Late Tria...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.883788/full |
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| author | Adriana C. Mancuso Randall B. Irmis Randall B. Irmis Tomás E. Pedernera Leandro C. Gaetano Leandro C. Gaetano Cecilia A. Benavente Cecilia A. Benavente Benjamin T. Breeden III Benjamin T. Breeden III |
| author_facet | Adriana C. Mancuso Randall B. Irmis Randall B. Irmis Tomás E. Pedernera Leandro C. Gaetano Leandro C. Gaetano Cecilia A. Benavente Cecilia A. Benavente Benjamin T. Breeden III Benjamin T. Breeden III |
| author_sort | Adriana C. Mancuso |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Paleoenvironmental factors such as climate change are often hypothesized as critical for ecosystem changes over evolutionary time scales. Theoretically, these changes should be observable in the fossil record, but the robust linkage of biotic shifts to climate events remains difficult. The Late Triassic Period is an ideal interval for testing such hypotheses within terrestrial ecosystems because of a number of large-scale climate events, such as the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), and a rich, well-studied fossil record. Nonetheless, at regional to global scales, few linkages have been identified during most of the Late Triassic. Here, we synthesize a multi-proxy basin-scale dataset of paleoenvironmental data, including new information from clay mineralogy and paleosol major- and trace-element geochemistry, to understand paleoclimate changes in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of northwestern Argentina. In combination with diversity and relative abundance information from the well-sampled plant and tetrapod fossil record in the basin, we then use accepted evolutionary models of abiotic forcing of changes in ecosystems to test previously proposed hypotheses of floral and faunal variations at a basin scale. We find that although many patterns are best explained by sampling issues and taphonomy, pseudosuchian archosaur diversity and rhynchosaur relative abundance conform to predictions of paleoenvironmental forcing as the climate changed from warmer, drier conditions to more temperate humid conditions. These data demonstrate how high-resolution multi-proxy data and a well-sampled fossil record at a basin-scale can be used to test hypotheses of abiotic forcing of ecosystems in deep time, and highlights where future efforts should be directed in terms of filling data gaps and testing new hypotheses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:18:32Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-6463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:18:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-7ef9899fb766451c8e17d509b93d038c2022-12-22T03:27:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632022-06-011010.3389/feart.2022.883788883788Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin ScaleAdriana C. Mancuso0Randall B. Irmis1Randall B. Irmis2Tomás E. Pedernera3Leandro C. Gaetano4Leandro C. Gaetano5Cecilia A. Benavente6Cecilia A. Benavente7Benjamin T. Breeden III8Benjamin T. Breeden III9Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT-Mendoza, CONICET, Parque General San Martín, Mendoza, ArgentinaNatural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesDepartment of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesInstituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT-Mendoza, CONICET, Parque General San Martín, Mendoza, ArgentinaInstituto de Estudios Andinos “Don Pablo Groeber” (IDEAN, UBA-CONICET), Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaEvolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaInstituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), CCT-Mendoza, CONICET, Parque General San Martín, Mendoza, ArgentinaGeology, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (FCEN), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, ArgentinaNatural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesDepartment of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesPaleoenvironmental factors such as climate change are often hypothesized as critical for ecosystem changes over evolutionary time scales. Theoretically, these changes should be observable in the fossil record, but the robust linkage of biotic shifts to climate events remains difficult. The Late Triassic Period is an ideal interval for testing such hypotheses within terrestrial ecosystems because of a number of large-scale climate events, such as the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), and a rich, well-studied fossil record. Nonetheless, at regional to global scales, few linkages have been identified during most of the Late Triassic. Here, we synthesize a multi-proxy basin-scale dataset of paleoenvironmental data, including new information from clay mineralogy and paleosol major- and trace-element geochemistry, to understand paleoclimate changes in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of northwestern Argentina. In combination with diversity and relative abundance information from the well-sampled plant and tetrapod fossil record in the basin, we then use accepted evolutionary models of abiotic forcing of changes in ecosystems to test previously proposed hypotheses of floral and faunal variations at a basin scale. We find that although many patterns are best explained by sampling issues and taphonomy, pseudosuchian archosaur diversity and rhynchosaur relative abundance conform to predictions of paleoenvironmental forcing as the climate changed from warmer, drier conditions to more temperate humid conditions. These data demonstrate how high-resolution multi-proxy data and a well-sampled fossil record at a basin-scale can be used to test hypotheses of abiotic forcing of ecosystems in deep time, and highlights where future efforts should be directed in terms of filling data gaps and testing new hypotheses.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.883788/fullCarnian Pluvial EpisodeGondwanaIschigualasto FormationIschigualasto-Villa Unión Basinmultiproxy climate dataset |
| spellingShingle | Adriana C. Mancuso Randall B. Irmis Randall B. Irmis Tomás E. Pedernera Leandro C. Gaetano Leandro C. Gaetano Cecilia A. Benavente Cecilia A. Benavente Benjamin T. Breeden III Benjamin T. Breeden III Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale Frontiers in Earth Science Carnian Pluvial Episode Gondwana Ischigualasto Formation Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin multiproxy climate dataset |
| title | Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale |
| title_full | Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale |
| title_fullStr | Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale |
| title_short | Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale |
| title_sort | paleoenvironmental and biotic changes in the late triassic of argentina testing hypotheses of abiotic forcing at the basin scale |
| topic | Carnian Pluvial Episode Gondwana Ischigualasto Formation Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin multiproxy climate dataset |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.883788/full |
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