Six-fold increase of atmospheric pCO<sub>2</sub> during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33837195.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22298-7 and PMC identifier 8035180.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was marked by a massive release of carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system, evidenced by a sharp negative carbon isotope excursion. Large carbon emissions would have increased atmospheric pCO<sub>2</sub> and caused global warming. However, the magnitude of pCO<sub>2</sub> changes during the PTME has not yet been estimated. Here, we present a continuous pCO<sub>2</sub> record across the PTME reconstructed from high-resolution δ<sup>13</sup>C of C<sub>3</sub> plants from southwestern China. We show that pCO<sub>2</sub> increased from 426 +133/-96 ppmv in the latest Permian to 2507 +4764/-1193 ppmv at the PTME within about 75 kyr, and that the reconstructed pCO<sub>2</sub> significantly correlates with sea surface temperatures. Mass balance modelling suggests that volcanic CO<sub>2</sub> is probably not the only trigger of the carbon cycle perturbation, and that large quantities of <sup>13</sup>C-depleted carbon emission from organic matter and methane were likely required during complex interactions with the Siberian Traps volcanism.