Permo-Triassic boundary carbon and mercury cycling linked to terrestrial ecosystem collapse.

ABSTRACT: Records suggest that the Permo-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) involved one of the most severe terrestrial ecosystem collapses of the Phanerozoic. However, it has proved difficult to constrain the extent of the primary productivity loss on land, hindering our understanding of the effects on global biogeochemistry. We build a new biogeochemical model that couples the global Hg and C cycles to evaluate the distinct terrestrial contribution to atmosphere-ocean biogeochemistry separated from coeval volcanic fluxes. We show that the large short-lived Hg spike, and nadirs in δ²⁰²Hg and δ¹³C values at the marine PTME are best explained by a sudden, massive pulse of terrestrial biomass oxidation, while volcanism remains an adequate explanation for the longer-term geochemical

SUBMITTER: Dal Corso J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7289894 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature