Evidence for a prolonged Permian–Triassic extinction interval from global marine mercury records

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1563 - 9
• Main Authors: Shen, Jun, Chen, Jiubin, Algeo, Thomas J., Yuan, Shengliu, Feng, Qinglai, Yu, Jianxin, Zhou, Lian, O’Connell, Brennan, Planavsky, Noah J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.04.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/58; 704/106/2738; 704/2151/414; 704/47/4112; Deep water; Extinction; Extinction, Biological; Fossils; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mass extinctions; Mercury; Mercury (metal); Mercury - analysis; Mercury - chemistry; Mercury Isotopes - analysis; Mercury Isotopes - chemistry; multidisciplinary; Northern Hemisphere; Oceans and Seas; Permian; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Shallow water; Triassic; Volcanic activity; Volcanic Eruptions
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09620-0

The latest Permian mass extinction, the most devastating biocrisis of the Phanerozoic, has been widely attributed to eruptions of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province, although evidence of a direct link has been scant to date. Here, we measure mercury (Hg), assumed to reflect shifts in volcanic activity, across the Permian-Triassic boundary in ten marine sections across the Northern Hemisphere. Hg concentration peaks close to the Permian-Triassic boundary suggest coupling of biotic extinction and increased volcanic activity. Additionally, Hg isotopic data for a subset of these sections provide evidence for largely atmospheric rather than terrestrial Hg sources, further linking Hg enrichment to increased volcanic activity. Hg peaks in shallow-water sections were nearly synchronous with the end-Permian extinction horizon, while those in deep-water sections occurred tens of thousands of years before the main extinction, possibly supporting a globally diachronous biotic turnover and protracted mass extinction event. Previously, little direct evidence has been found to link large volcanic eruption events with the end-Permian mass extinction. Here, the authors find that mercury enrichment and isotope records in marine sections across the globe can be linked to increased volcanic activity, which resulted in the protracted Permian-Triassic biocrisis