Initial assessment of the carbon emission rate and climatic consequences during the end-Permian mass extinction

• Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
• Main Authors: Cui, Ying, Kump, Lee R., Ridgwell, Andy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Carbon release; CGENIE; CO; End-Permian mass extinction; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1983/ee5d3e29-0562-4818-a97e-bf4e86f2cf48; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/ee5d3e29-0562-4818-a97e-bf4e86f2cf48; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.09.001; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885835442&partnerID=8YFLogxK

Numerous lines of geochemical and stable isotopic evidence indicate that the end-Permian mass extinction was accompanied by abrupt climate change induced by CO 2 addition. Catastrophic end-Permian Siberian volcanism may have released a large amount of CO 2 into the atmosphere and pushed the Earth's system beyond a critical threshold, causing the mass extinction. However, the injection rate, total amount and source of CO 2 are largely unknown. We conducted a suite of simulations using the recently published carbon isotope records and U-Pb ages from Meishan section in Zhejiang province, China. An Earth System Model of Intermediate Complexity (cGENIE; http://www.genie.ac.uk) was used to extract the pattern of CO 2 release needed to replicate the observed carbon isotope excursion across the Permian-Triassic boundary. This analysis leads us to suggest that the source of CO 2 must have been significantly heavier than typical biogenic or thermogenic methane to explain the significant warming that occurred during and after the extinction event. Nevertheless, as with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, end-Permian rates of CO 2 addition were likely small compared with modern fossil-fuel burning, but considerably more protracted, such that the likely total CO 2 emitted significantly exceeded the modern fossil-fuel reserves. Peak emission rates corresponded to the onset of the maximum extinction interval, consistent with carbon cycle disruption, including volcanogenic CO 2 -induced warming (and perhaps ocean acidification), as a trigger for the end-Permian mass extinction.