High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction
The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe in the Phanerozoic, extinguishing more than 90% of marine and 75% of terrestrial species in a maximum of 61 ± 48 ky. Because of broad temporal coincidence between the biotic crisis and one of the most voluminous continental volcanic eruptions since...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98483 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9722-469X |
| _version_ | 1811071480522342400 |
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| author | Burgess, Seth Bowring, Samuel A. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Burgess, Seth Bowring, Samuel A. |
| author_sort | Burgess, Seth |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe in the Phanerozoic, extinguishing more than 90% of marine and 75% of terrestrial species in a maximum of 61 ± 48 ky. Because of broad temporal coincidence between the biotic crisis and one of the most voluminous continental volcanic eruptions since the origin of animals, the Siberian Traps large igneous province (LIP), a causal connection has long been suggested. Magmatism is hypothesized to have caused rapid injection of massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, driving climate change and subsequent destabilization of the biosphere. Establishing a causal connection between magmatism and mass extinction is critically dependent on accurately and precisely knowing the relative timing of the two events and the flux of magma. New U/Pb dates on Siberian Traps LIP lava flows, sills, and explosively erupted rocks indicate that (i) about two-thirds of the total lava/pyroclastic volume was erupted over ~300 ky, before and concurrent with the end-Permian mass extinction; (ii) eruption of the balance of lavas continued for at least 500 ky after extinction cessation; and (iii) massive emplacement of sills into the shallow crust began concomitant with the mass extinction and continued for at least 500 ky into the early Triassic. This age model is consistent with Siberian Traps LIP magmatism as a trigger for the end-Permian mass extinction and suggests a role for magmatism in suppression of post-extinction biotic recovery. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:51:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98483 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:51:48Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/984832022-09-26T08:47:25Z High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction Burgess, Seth Bowring, Samuel A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Burgess, Seth Bowring, Samuel A. The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe in the Phanerozoic, extinguishing more than 90% of marine and 75% of terrestrial species in a maximum of 61 ± 48 ky. Because of broad temporal coincidence between the biotic crisis and one of the most voluminous continental volcanic eruptions since the origin of animals, the Siberian Traps large igneous province (LIP), a causal connection has long been suggested. Magmatism is hypothesized to have caused rapid injection of massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, driving climate change and subsequent destabilization of the biosphere. Establishing a causal connection between magmatism and mass extinction is critically dependent on accurately and precisely knowing the relative timing of the two events and the flux of magma. New U/Pb dates on Siberian Traps LIP lava flows, sills, and explosively erupted rocks indicate that (i) about two-thirds of the total lava/pyroclastic volume was erupted over ~300 ky, before and concurrent with the end-Permian mass extinction; (ii) eruption of the balance of lavas continued for at least 500 ky after extinction cessation; and (iii) massive emplacement of sills into the shallow crust began concomitant with the mass extinction and continued for at least 500 ky into the early Triassic. This age model is consistent with Siberian Traps LIP magmatism as a trigger for the end-Permian mass extinction and suggests a role for magmatism in suppression of post-extinction biotic recovery. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Continental Dynamics Grant EAR-0807475) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Instrumentation and Facilities Grant EAR-0931839) 2015-09-14T17:59:45Z 2015-09-14T17:59:45Z 2015-08 2015-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2375-2548 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98483 Burgess, S. D., and S. A. Bowring. “High-Precision Geochronology Confirms Voluminous Magmatism before, During, and after Earth’s Most Severe Extinction.” Science Advances 1, no. 7 (August 1, 2015): e1500470–e1500470. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9722-469X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500470 Science Advances Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ application/pdf American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) |
| spellingShingle | Burgess, Seth Bowring, Samuel A. High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title | High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title_full | High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title_fullStr | High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title_full_unstemmed | High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title_short | High-precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before, during, and after Earth's most severe extinction |
| title_sort | high precision geochronology confirms voluminous magmatism before during and after earth s most severe extinction |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98483 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9722-469X |
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