| Title | The Capitanian (Guadalupian, Middle Permian) mass extinction in NW Pangea (Borup Fiord, Arctic Canada): A global crisis driven by volcanism and anoxia |
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| Author | Bond, D P G; Wignall, P B; Grasby, S E |
| Source | Geological Society of America Bulletin vol. 132, no. 5/6, 2019 p. 931-942, https://doi.org/10.1130/B35281.1  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2019 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20200039 |
| Publisher | Geological Society of America |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is related to The Capitanian (Guadalupian,
Middle Permian) mass extinction in NW Pangea (Borup Fiord, Arctic Canada): a global crisis driven by volcanism and anoxia |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Nunavut |
| Area | Ellesmere Island; Arctic Canada; Canada |
| Lat/Long WENS | -125.0000 -63.0000 84.0000 76.0000 |
| Subjects | marine geology; paleontology; Science and Technology; volcanism; Borup Fiord |
| Illustrations | location maps; graphs; tables; stratigraphic columns |
| Program | GEM2: Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals Western Arctic, Pearya Terrane, North Ellesmere |
| Released | 2019 08 30 |
| Abstract | Until recently, the biotic crisis that occurred within the Capitanian Stage (Middle Permian, ca. 262 Ma) was known only from equatorial (Tethyan) latitudes, and its global extent was poorly resolved.
The discovery of a Boreal Capitanian crisis in Spitsbergen, with losses of similar magnitude to those in low latitudes, indicated that the event was geographically widespread, but further non-Tethyan records are needed to confirm this as a true mass
extinction. The cause of this crisis is similarly controversial: While the temporal coincidence of the extinction and the onset of volcanism in the Emeishan large igneous province in China provides a clear link between those phenomena, the proximal
kill mechanism is unclear. Here, we present an integrated fossil, pyrite framboid, and geochemical study of the Middle to Late Permian section of the Sverdrup Basin at Borup Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada. As in Spitsbergen, the Capitanian
extinction is recorded by brachiopods in a chert/limestone succession 30?40 m below the Permian-Triassic boundary. The extinction level shows elevated concentrations of redox-sensitive trace metals (Mo, V, U, Mn), and contemporary pyrite framboid
populations are dominated by small individuals, suggestive of a causal role for anoxia in the wider Boreal crisis. Mercury concentrations—a proxy for volcanism—are generally low throughout the succession but are elevated at the extinction level, and
this spike withstands normalization to total organic carbon, total sulfur, and aluminum. We suggest this is the smoking gun of eruptions in the distant Emeishan large igneous province, which drove high-latitude anoxia via global warming. Although the
global Capitanian extinction might have had different regional mechanisms, like the more famous extinction at the end of the Permian, each had its roots in large igneous province volcanism. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This paper demonstrates that a global mass extinction occured 262 million years ago and that it was likely driven by massive volcanism at that time
producing excess CO2 and driving global warming, demonstrating the impacts that glboal warming events have on global ecosystems. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 326054 |
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