Wildfire, ecosystem, and climate interactions in the Early Triassic.

ABSTRACT: Wildfires are a key component of Earth system dynamics with respect to carbon cycling. Thus, reconstructing past wildfire dynamics is crucial for understanding potential future climate change as related to (paleo)environmental feedbacks. Here, we explore wildfire during the Early Triassic (Smithian and Spathian, ca. 250 million years ago) - a time interval characterized by scarce fire evidence, perturbation of the carbon cycle, climatic oscillations, vegetation succession and biotic radiation-extinction pulses - using polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are an organic (geo)chemical fire indicator in sediments. Hydrocarbon abundances in shales from Spitsbergen show a prominent increase after the Smithian-Spathian boundary. Diagnostic ratios of hydrocarbons suggest that these compounds were der

SUBMITTER: Blattmann FR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12540185 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature