Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change
One of the largest mass extinctions of the past 600 million years (Myr) occurred 200 Myr ago, at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. The major floral and faunal turnovers have been linked to a marked increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, probably resulting from massive volcanism in the Central...
| المؤلفون الرئيسيون: | , , , , , , , |
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| التنسيق: | Journal article |
| اللغة: | English |
| منشور في: |
Nature Publishing Group
2010
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| الموضوعات: |
| _version_ | 1826281721030508544 |
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| author | Belcher, C Mander, L Rein, G Jervis, F Haworth, M Hesselbo, S Glasspool, I McElwain, J |
| author_facet | Belcher, C Mander, L Rein, G Jervis, F Haworth, M Hesselbo, S Glasspool, I McElwain, J |
| author_sort | Belcher, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | One of the largest mass extinctions of the past 600 million years (Myr) occurred 200 Myr ago, at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. The major floral and faunal turnovers have been linked to a marked increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, probably resulting from massive volcanism in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Future climate change predictions suggest that fire activity may increase, in part because higher global temperatures are thought to increase storminess. Here we use palaeontological reconstructions of the fossil flora from East Greenland to assess forest flammability along with records of fossil charcoal preserved in the rocks to show that fire activity increased markedly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. We find a fivefold increase in the abundance of fossil charcoal in the earliest Jurassic, which we attribute to a climate-driven shift from a prevalence of broad-leaved taxa to a predominantly narrow-leaved assemblage. Our fire calorimetry experiments show that narrow lead morphologies are more flammable than broad-leaved morphologies. We suggest that the warming associated with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels favoured a dominance of narroow-leaved plants, which, coupled with more frequent lightening strikes, led to an increase in fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:33:04Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:807b8767-34b5-44f1-afa3-0d880a65eabf |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:33:04Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:807b8767-34b5-44f1-afa3-0d880a65eabf2022-03-26T21:23:38ZIncreased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral changeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:807b8767-34b5-44f1-afa3-0d880a65eabfEarth sciencesPaleontologyEnvironmentEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetNature Publishing Group2010Belcher, CMander, LRein, GJervis, FHaworth, MHesselbo, SGlasspool, IMcElwain, JOne of the largest mass extinctions of the past 600 million years (Myr) occurred 200 Myr ago, at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. The major floral and faunal turnovers have been linked to a marked increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, probably resulting from massive volcanism in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Future climate change predictions suggest that fire activity may increase, in part because higher global temperatures are thought to increase storminess. Here we use palaeontological reconstructions of the fossil flora from East Greenland to assess forest flammability along with records of fossil charcoal preserved in the rocks to show that fire activity increased markedly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. We find a fivefold increase in the abundance of fossil charcoal in the earliest Jurassic, which we attribute to a climate-driven shift from a prevalence of broad-leaved taxa to a predominantly narrow-leaved assemblage. Our fire calorimetry experiments show that narrow lead morphologies are more flammable than broad-leaved morphologies. We suggest that the warming associated with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels favoured a dominance of narroow-leaved plants, which, coupled with more frequent lightening strikes, led to an increase in fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. |
| spellingShingle | Earth sciences Paleontology Environment Belcher, C Mander, L Rein, G Jervis, F Haworth, M Hesselbo, S Glasspool, I McElwain, J Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title | Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title_full | Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title_fullStr | Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title_short | Increased fire activity at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in Greenland due to climate-driven floral change |
| title_sort | increased fire activity at the triassic jurassic boundary in greenland due to climate driven floral change |
| topic | Earth sciences Paleontology Environment |
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