Two-stage marine anoxia and biotic response during the Permian–Triassic transition in Kashmir, northern India: pyrite framboid evidence

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_A65CD6659E64
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Case report (case report): feedback on an observation with a short commentary.
Collection
Publications
Title
Two-stage marine anoxia and biotic response during the Permian–Triassic transition in Kashmir, northern India: pyrite framboid evidence
Journal
Global and Planetary Change
Author(s)
Huang Yuangeng, Chen Zhong-Qiang, Algeo  Thomas, Zhao Laishi, Baud Aymon, Bhat  Ghulam, Zhang Lei, Guo Zhen
ISSN
0921-8181
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2019
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
172
Pages
124-139
Language
english
Abstract
Although expanded ocean anoxia has long been believed to be a direct killing mechanism causing mortality of organisms during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, little has been published on the extent and timing of this anoxia in Gondwana. The Guryul Ravine section in Kashmir, northern India, is a classic Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) section containing high-quality marine sedimentary and fossil records, and thus provides a unique opportunity to study the redox conditions associated with the biotic crisis in the Gondwana region. Here, high-resolution biotic and redox data were generated from Kashmir to achieve an improved understanding of the nature of environmental stresses associated with the Earth's largest biocatastrophe. Our study, which evaluates pyrite framboid size and morphology, reveals two pronounced stages of oceanic oxygen deficiency, in the assigned latest Permian Hindeodus praeparvus–Clarkina meishanensis Zone and the earliest Triassic Isarcicella staeschei Zone. Updated marine invertebrate fossil records show three sharp species richness declines at Guryul Ravine. The first decline occurred within uppermost Permian storm beds and is interpreted to represent a facies control, in which a storm-agitated environment was inhospitable for benthos. The latter two biotic declines coincided with two marine anoxic events, as documented by pyrite framboid size distributions. The same two anoxic events are also recognized from PTB beds in the adjacent, relatively shallower Barus Spur section in Kashmir, in which newly obtained faunal data help to constrain placement of the PTB. The present study represents a new report of the two-stage pattern of oceanic anoxia during the Permian–Triassic transition. We propose that the two anoxic events at Guryul Ravine correlate precisely with anoxic events in the Meishan GSSP and some sections in South China, suggesting that this event sequence might have been characteristic of the Permian–Triassic transition in some specific geological settings. The close relationship between oxygen depletion and species richness decline suggests that the former were an important contributor to the latter. In addition, we find that many framboids exhibit surface oxidation, reducing their overall size. However, our statistical analysis suggests that the mean oxidation-related reduction in size is <2.2%, thus having little effect on redox interpretations based on pyrite framboid sizes. Our results demonstrate that, unlike many geochemical proxies, the pyrite framboid technique is still valid for redox interpretations of weathered samples.
Keywords
Redox variation, Mass extinction, Guryul Ravine, Neo-Tethys, Induan
Create date
30/10/2019 19:17
Last modification date
02/11/2019 19:46
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