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High-precision timeline for Earth's most severe extinction.

Seth D Burgess1, Samuel Bowring, Shu-zhong Shen

  • 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.

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The end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe in 542 million years, occurred rapidly over 60,000 years. This study precisely dates the event, revealing a link between carbon cycle disruption and mass extinction dynamics.

Keywords:
evolutiongeochronology

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Area of Science:

  • Paleontology
  • Geochronology
  • Geochemistry

Background:

  • The end-Permian mass extinction represents the most catastrophic loss of marine and terrestrial life in the last 542 million years.
  • Establishing an accurate age model is crucial for understanding the extinction's causes and recovery dynamics.

Observation:

  • High-precision U-Pb zircon dating of volcanic ash beds at the Permian-Triassic boundary GSSP in Meishan, China, provides a refined age model.
  • The extinction interval is precisely dated between 251.941 ± 0.037 and 251.880 ± 0.031 Mya, lasting 60 ± 48 ka.
  • A significant carbon cycle reorganization, marked by a sharp negative carbon isotope excursion, immediately preceded the extinction's onset.

Findings:

  • The mass extinction occurred within a geologically short timeframe of approximately 60,000 years.
  • Carbon cycle volatility persisted for about 500,000 years post-extinction.
  • Millennial-scale resolution reveals the timing of extinction relative to environmental perturbations and carbon cycle disruption.

Implications:

  • This precise age model allows for a refined evaluation of rate-dependent processes contributing to the extinction.
  • It provides critical insights into the mechanisms driving mass extinctions and subsequent ecosystem recovery.
  • The findings enable a more accurate assessment of potential trigger and kill mechanisms for the end-Permian event.