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The latest Triassic was an interval of prolonged biotic extinction culminated by the end-Triassic Extinction, which is associated with a pronounced perturbation of the global carbon cycle that can be connected to extensive volcanism of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Earlier chaotic perturbations of the global carbon cycle can also be tied to the onset of declining latest Triassic diversity, which reached its maximum across the Norian-Rhaetian boundary (NRB). These perturbations are global across the Panthalassa Ocean to both sides of the Pangean supercontinent in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The NRB witnessed the severe global extinctions of significant marine fossil groups, such as ammonoids, bivalves, conodonts and radiolarians. The onset of the stepwise Late Triassic extinctions coincided with the NRB carbon perturbation (d13Corg), indicating that the combined climate and environmental changes impacted the global biota. The trigger of this event is attributed to a volcanic event pre-dating the NRB, an alternative source of volcanogenic gas emissions, and/or a meteorite impact.
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Biosediment assemblages reveal disrupted silica cycling and redox conditions throughout the Rhaetian Stage: Evidence for a precursor event to the end-Triassic mass extinction
The Norian–Rhaetian boundary (Late Triassic) represents an important precursor extinction event to the end- Triassic mass extinction, but the biotic and geochemical shifts are not well-understood due to poor stratigraphic constraints. Here we examine the microfossil record for metazoans and protists on a Panthalassan carbonate ramp (Gabbs Formation, Nevada, U.S.A.) during the late Norian to mid-Rhaetian, and correlate changes in these assemblages with macrofossil shifts and geochemical data (strontium and carbon isotopes). In the latest Norian, demosponge spicules represent a small proportion of shallow marine biosediments. Demosponges are joined in the earliest Rhaetian by increasingly abundant hypersilicified sponge spicules and silica-limited hexactinellid sponge spicules synchronous with a negative strontium isotope excursion indicating increased hydrothermal or volcanic activity. Common carbonate microfossils such as echinoderm ossicles and ostracods are typically silicified in these deposits as well, suggesting increased silicic porewater. The source for increased dissolved silica in shallow marine systems is suggested to be hydrothermal vent degassing, likely associated with increased tectonic rifting activity. Mid-Rhaetian microfossil assemblages exhibit evidence for intermitted anoxia in reducing conditions, supporting a scenario in which environmental stress was a prolonged feature of much of the Rhaetian Stage, rather than a short-term event in the terminal Rhaetian. While there is no marine sedimentary record of volcanism recognized for this interval, biosedimentary assemblages may serve as proxies for geochemical conditions associated with rifting.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1654088
- PAR ID:
- 10539215
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology
- ISSN:
- 0031-0182
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 112034
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112034
