Terminal Permian Volcanism and Mass Extinctions

Paul Heinrich oxytropidoceras at cox.net
Sun Feb 14 11:26:30 EST 2010

Dear Friends,

Below are some recent web pages and PDF files of publications
about termianl Permian volcanism and mass extinction. It looks
like this mass extinction was not caused by either an asteroid or
comet impact.

http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/SiberianTraps.html

(Map of Russia with highlighted area around Siberian Traps)
http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/SiberianTraps.html

Siberian Traps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Traps

The Siberian Traps - Home
http://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/Index.html
http://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/Plumesornot.html
http://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/FBandME.html

Emeishan Traps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeishan_Traps

Late Permian Emeishan flood basalt in southeastern China
http://www.iugg.org/members/nationalreports/china2002/chinaIAVCEI/4%20LATE%20PERMIAN%20EMEISHAN%20FLOOD%20BASALTS.htm

9. T84. Volcanism, Impacts, Mass Extinctions, and Global
Environmental Change II (Paleontological Society; GSA
Sedimentary Geology Division)
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2009AM/finalprogram/session_25172.htm

A few of innumerable online PDF files of papers:

Kamo, S. L., G. K. Czamanske, Y. Amelina, V. A. Fedorenko, D. W.
Davis, and V. R. Tro¢mov, 2003, Rapid eruption of Siberian
Flood-volcanic rocks and evidence for coincidence with the
Permian-Triassic boundary and mass extinction at 251 Ma. Earth
and Planetary Science Letters. vol. 214, pp. 75-91.

http://bi154.dhcp.ttu.edu/extinction/kamo+al03.pdf

Haggerty, B. M., 1996, Episodes of Flood-Basalt Volcanism Defined by
Ar40/Ar39 Age Distributions: Correlation with Mass Extinctions?
Journal of Undergraduate Science. vol. 3, pp. 156-164.

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jus/0303/haggerty.pdf

Metcalfe, I., and Y. Isozaki, 2009, Current perspectives on the
Permian–Triassic boundary and end-Permian mass extinction:
Preface. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. vol. 36, pp. 407–412

http://ea.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/earth/Members/Isozaki/09JAES-preface.pdf

Isozaki, Y., 2007, Plume Winter scenario for biosphere catastrophe:
the Permo-Triassic boundary case. In Yuen, D., Maruyama, S.,
Karato, S. and Windley, B.F. (eds.), Superplume: beyond plate
tectonics. pp. 409-440, Springer, Berlin.

http://ea.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/earth/Members/Isozaki/07superplume.pdf

(warning the above file is 29 MB in size)

Isozaki, Y., 2009, Illawarra Reversal: The fingerprint of a
superplume that triggered Pangean breakupand the end-
Guadalupian (Permian) mass extinction. Gondwana Research.
vol. 15, pp. 421–432.

http://ea.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/earth/Members/Isozaki/09Illawarra-GR.pdf

A bunch of downloadable PDF files at the bottom of "Yukio
Isozaki" at;

http://ea.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/earth/Members/isozaki_Eng.html

Retallack, G.J., 2005, Permian greenhouse crises, in Lucas, S.G.
and Ziegler, K.E., ed., The nonmarine Permian. Bulletin New
Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. vol. 30, pp. 256-269.

http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/_media/directory/faculty/greg/permiancrises.pdf?id=directory%3Afaculty%3Agreg%3Apublications&cache=cache
http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/directory/faculty/greg/publications

Retallack, G. J., R. M. H. Smith, and P. D. Ward, 2003, Vertebrate
extinction across Permian-Triassic boundary in Karoo Basin, South
Africa. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. vol. 115, no. 9,
pp. 1133 - 1152.

http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/_media/directory/faculty/greg/karoopt_final.pdf?id=directory%3Afaculty%3Agreg%3Apublications&cache=cachehttp
http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/directory/faculty/greg/publications


Retallack, G. J., Christine A. Metzger, Tara Greaver, A. Hope Jahren,
Roger M.H. Smith and Nathan D. Sheldon, 2006, Middle-Late Permian
mass extinction on land, GSA Bulletin. vol. 118, no. 11-12,
pp. 1398-1411

http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/_media/directory/faculty/greg/mid-late_permian_extinction.pdf?id=directory%3Afaculty%3Agreg%3Apublications&cache=cache
http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/directory/faculty/greg/publications

Retallack, G. J., Greaver, T., and Jahren, A. H., 2007, Return to
Coalsack Bluff and the Permian-Triassic boundary in Antarctica.
Global and Planetary Change. vol . 55, pp. 90-108

http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/_media/directory/faculty/greg/coalsack.pdf?id=directory%3Afaculty%3Agreg%3Apublications&cache=cache
http://www.uoregon.edu/~dogsci/directory/faculty/greg/publications

Yours,

Paul H.

Ocean Acidification and the Permian and Triassic Extinctions

Paul Heinrich oxytropidoceras at cox.net
Sun Feb 14 11:03:47 EST 2010

Asteroid and comet impacts are not the only possible
cause for the Permian and Triassic-Jurassic extinctions.
Some recent papers on a likely major contributing cause
to these mass extinctions are:

1. Saunders, A., and M. Reichow, 2009, The Siberian Traps
and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review.
Chinese Science Bulletin. vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 20-37.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/1743222152769702/

"Compromise of the carbon sequestration systems (by
curtailment of photosynthesis, destruction of biomass,
and warming and acidification of the oceans) probably
led to rapid atmospheric CO2 build-up, warming, and
shallow-water anoxia, leading ultimately to mass
extinction."

2. Knoll, A. H., R. K. Bambach, J. L. Payne, S. Prussa and
Woodward W. Fischer, 2007, Paleophysiology and end-Permian
mass extinction. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
vol. 256, no. 3-4, pp. 295-313.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.018

"Global warming, anoxia, and toxic sulfide probably all
contributed to end-Permian mass mortality, but hypercapnia
(physiological effects of elevated PCO2) best accounts
for the selective survival of marine invertebrates."

3. Hautmann, M., 2004, Effect of End-Triassic CO2
maximum on carbonate sedimentation and marine mass
extinction. Facies. vol. 50, pp. 257-261.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/ajvptjvenfvte5ck/

"Besides the frequently cited climatic effect of enhanced
carbon dioxide, lowering the saturation state of sea water
with respect to calcium carbonate was an additional driving
force of the end-Triassic mass extinction, which chiefly
affected organisms with thick aragonitic or high-magnesium
calcitic skeletons. Replacement of aragonite by calcite,
as found in the shells of epifaunal bivalves, was an
evolutionary response to this condition."

4. Hautmann, M., M., J. Benton, and A. Tomasovych, 2008,
Catastrophic ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic
boundary. Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Paleontologie
Abhandlungen. vol. 249, pp. 119-127.

"Using carbon isotopes as a geochemical marker, we found
that the onset of the CO2 emissions coincided with an
interruption of carbonate sedimentation in palaeogeographically
distant regions, suggesting that hydrolysis of CO2 led to
a short but substantial decrease of seawater pH that slowed
down or inhibited precipitation of calcium carbonate minerals.
The cessation of carbonate sedimentation correlates with a
major marine extinction event, which especially affected
organisms with aragonitic or high-Mg calcitic skeletons and
little physiological control of biocalcification."

5. Ryan, D., and D. Lehrann, 2009, Petrographic evaluation of
a Permian-Triassic erosion surface and implications for causes
of the end-Permian mass extinction. Geological Society of
America Abstracts with Programs, Vol 41, No. 4, p. 17.
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2009NC/finalprogram/abstract_156104.htm

"Our results favor genesis as a submarine dissolution surface
resulting from ocean acidification during the end-Permian
extinction."

6. Veron, J. E. N., 2008, Mass extinctions and ocean acidification:
biological constraints on geological dilemmas. Coral Reefs.
vol. 27, no. 3., pp. 459-472.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/085g2151l3nlt871/

7. Zhuravlev, A. Y., and R. A. Wood, 2009, Controls on
carbonate skeletal mineralogy: Global CO2 evolution and
mass extinctions. Geology. vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 1123-1126.
http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/37/12/1123.abstract

"Mass extinction events, many of which may be caused by
rapid global changes in temperature and/or pCO2, represent
major intervals of turnover."

8. Sleep, N. H., 2009, End-Permian Extinction From Massive
Basalt-Coal Interaction. Geological Society of America Abstracts
with Programs, Vol. 41, No. 7, p. 359.
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2009AM/finalprogram/abstract_162958.htm

"The sudden CO2 and methane release then resulted in strong
global warming. There was insufficient time to renew the
mixed layer of the ocean, resulting in much stronger
acidification than in the present ocean. Overall, changes
that occur over less than the lifetimes of organisms are
more likely to have catastrophic biological effects than slow
changes. Therefore a sudden massive release of CO2 from coal
burning over a few years is a more likely mass extinction
mechanism than the gradual release of CO2 from metamorphism
over 10000s of years in the Siberian basin."

Yours,

Paul H.

New Paper on Permian Extinctions

Paul bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 23 09:48:28 EST 2008

The Journal of Geology has just published a new paper on Permian
extinctions. It is:

Retallack, G. J., and A. H. Jahren, 2008, Methane Release from
Igneous Intrusion of Coal during Late Permian Extinction Events
Journal of Geology. vol. 116, no. 1, pp. 1-20.

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/524120

"Abstract

Unusually large and locally variable carbon isotope excursions
coincident with mass extinctions at the end of the Permian
Period (253 Ma) and Guadalupian Epoch (260 Ma) can be attributed
to methane outbursts to the atmosphere. Methane has isotopic
values (δ13C) low enough to reduce to feasible amounts the
carbon required for isotopic mass balance. The duration of the
carbon isotopic excursions and inferred methane releases are here
constrained to <10,000 yr by counting annual varves in lake
deposits and by estimating peat accumulation rates. On
paleogeographic maps, the most marked carbon isotope excursions
form linear arrays back to plausible methane sources: end-Permian
Siberian Traps and Longwood-Bluff intrusions of New Zealand and
end-Guadalupian Emeishan Traps of China. Intrusion of coal
seams by feeder dikes to flood basalts could create successive
thermogenic methane outbursts of the observed timing and
magnitude, but these are unreasonably short times for
replenishment of marine or permafrost sources of methane.
Methane released by fracturing and heating of coal during
intrusion of large igneous provinces may have been a planetary
hazard comparable with bolide impact"

Yours,

Paul