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Science 24 May 1996:
Vol. 272. no. 5265, pp. 1155 - 1158
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5265.1155
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Reports

Oceanic Anoxia and the End Permian Mass Extinction

Paul B. Wignall and Richard J. Twitchett

Data on rocks from Spitsbergen and the equatorial sections of Italy and Slovenia indicate that the world's oceans became anoxic at both low and high paleolatitudes in the Late Permian. Such conditions may have been responsible for the mass extinction at this time. This event affected a wide range of shelf depths and extended into shallow water well above the storm wave base.

Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Changes in the global carbon cycle occurred as two episodes during the Permian-Triassic crisis.
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Bryozoan paleoecology indicates mid-Phanerozoic extinctions were the product of long-term environmental stress.
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Catastrophic soil erosion during the end-Permian biotic crisis.
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Massive release of hydrogen sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere during intervals of oceanic anoxia.
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Photic Zone Euxinia During the Permian-Triassic Superanoxic Event.
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Evidence for sulfidic deep water during the Late Permian in the East Greenland Basin.
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Geochemistry of the end-Permian extinction event in Austria and Italy: No evidence for an extraterrestrial component.
C. Koeberl, K. A. Farley, B. Peucker-Ehrenbrink, and M. A. Sephton (2004)
Geology 32, 1053-1056
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Origination, extinction, and mass depletions of marine diversity.
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Paleobiology 30, 522-542
The Evolution of Modern Eukaryotic Phytoplankton.
P. G. Falkowski, M. E. Katz, A. H. Knoll, A. Quigg, J. A. Raven, O. Schofield, and F. J. R. Taylor (2004)
Science 305, 354-360
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Trace fossils in the aftermath of mass extinction events.
R. J. Twitchett and C. G. Barras (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 228, 397-418
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Molybdenum Stable Isotopes: Observations, Interpretations and Directions.
A. D. Anbar (2004)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 55, 429-454
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Permian-Triassic boundary interval as a model for forcing marine ecosystem collapse by long-term atmospheric oxygen drop.
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Vertebrate extinction across Permian-Triassic boundary in Karoo Basin, South Africa.
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Permian-Triassic sedimentology of Jameson Land, East Greenland: incised submarine channels in an anoxic basin.
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Oceanic anoxia at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary.
H. Kimura and Y. Watanabe (2001)
Geology 29, 995-998
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Sea-level change and rock-record bias in the Cretaceous: a problem for extinction and biodiversity studies.
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Specific Growth Rate Plays a Critical Role in Hydrogen Peroxide Resistance of the Marine Oligotrophic Ultramicrobacterium Sphingomonas alaskensis Strain RB2256.
M. Ostrowski, R. Cavicchioli, M. Blaauw, and J. C. Gottschal (2001)
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Ocean stagnation and end-Permian anoxia.
R. M. Hotinski, K. L. Bice, L. R. Kump, R. G. Najjar, and M. A. Arthur (2001)
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Altered River Morphology in South Africa Related to the Permian-Triassic Extinction.
P. D. Ward, D. R. Montgomery, and R. Smith (2000)
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Timing of mammal-like reptile extinctions across the Permian-Triassic boundary in South Africa.
K. G. MacLeod, R. M. H. Smith, P. L. Koch, and P. D. Ward (2000)
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Broad oxygen tolerance in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
W. Van Voorhies and S Ward (2000)
J. Exp. Biol. 203, 2467-2478
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Facies changes across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in Nevada, USA.
A. HALLAM and P. B. WIGNALL (2000)
Journal of the Geological Society 157, 49-54
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Biogeochemical Controls and Feedbacks on Ocean Primary Production.
P. G. Falkowski, R. T. Barber, and V. Smetacek (1998)
Science 281, 200-206
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U/Pb Zircon Geochronology and Tempo of the End-Permian Mass Extinction.
S. A. Bowring, D. H. Erwin, Y. G. Jin, M. W. Martin, K. Davidek, and W. Wang (1998)
Science 280, 1039-1045
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Mass extinctions in Phanerozoic time.
A. Hallam (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 140, 259-274
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Relics and antiquity revisited in the modern vent fauna.
A. G. McArthur and V. Tunnicliffe (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 148, 271-291
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Permo-Triassic Boundary Superanoxia and Stratified Superocean: Records from Lost Deep Sea.
Y. Isozaki (1997)
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References.
(1997)
Geological Society, London, Memoirs 17, 477-514
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