TY - JOUR
T1 - Mercury isotope evidence for marine photic zone euxinia across the end-Permian mass extinction
AU - Sun, Ruoyu
AU - Liu, Yi
AU - Sonke, Jeroen E.
AU - Feifei, Zhang
AU - Zhao, Yaqiu
AU - Zhang, Yonggen
AU - Chen, Jiubin
AU - Liu, Cong Qiang
AU - Shen, Shuzhong
AU - Anbar, Ariel D.
AU - Zheng, Wang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - The driving forces, kill and recovery mechanisms for the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), the largest Phanerozoic biological crisis, are under debate. Sedimentary records of mercury enrichment and mercury isotopes have suggested the impact of volcanism on the EPME, yet the causes of mercury enrichment and isotope variations remain controversial. Here, we model mercury isotope variations across the EPME to quantitatively assess the effects of volcanism, terrestrial erosion and photic zone euxinia (PZE, toxic, sulfide-rich conditions). Our numerical model shows that while large-scale volcanism remains the main driver of widespread mercury enrichment, the negative shifts of Δ199Hg isotope signature across the EPME cannot be fully explained by volcanism or terrestrial erosion as proposed before, but require additional fractionation by marine mercury photoreduction under enhanced PZE conditions. Thus our model provides further evidence for widespread and prolonged PZE as a key kill mechanism for both the EPME and the impeded recovery afterward.
AB - The driving forces, kill and recovery mechanisms for the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), the largest Phanerozoic biological crisis, are under debate. Sedimentary records of mercury enrichment and mercury isotopes have suggested the impact of volcanism on the EPME, yet the causes of mercury enrichment and isotope variations remain controversial. Here, we model mercury isotope variations across the EPME to quantitatively assess the effects of volcanism, terrestrial erosion and photic zone euxinia (PZE, toxic, sulfide-rich conditions). Our numerical model shows that while large-scale volcanism remains the main driver of widespread mercury enrichment, the negative shifts of Δ199Hg isotope signature across the EPME cannot be fully explained by volcanism or terrestrial erosion as proposed before, but require additional fractionation by marine mercury photoreduction under enhanced PZE conditions. Thus our model provides further evidence for widespread and prolonged PZE as a key kill mechanism for both the EPME and the impeded recovery afterward.
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U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-00821-6
DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-00821-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85158108935
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 4
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 159
ER -