Volcanism, Mass Extinction, and Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China
Paul B. Wignall,1,*
Yadong Sun,2
David P. G. Bond,1
Gareth Izon,3
Robert J. Newton,1
Stéphanie Védrine,1
Mike Widdowson,3
Jason R. Ali,4
Xulong Lai,2
Haishui Jiang,2
Helen Cope,5
Simon H. Bottrell1
The 260-million-year-old Emeishan volcanic province of southwest
China overlies and is interbedded with Middle Permian carbonates
that contain a record of the Guadalupian mass extinction. Sections
in the region thus provide an opportunity to directly monitor
the relative timing of extinction and volcanism within the same
locations. These show that the onset of volcanism was marked
by both large phreatomagmatic eruptions and extinctions amongst
fusulinacean foraminifers and calcareous algae. The temporal
coincidence of these two phenomena supports the idea of a cause-and-effect
relationship. The crisis predates the onset of a major negative
carbon isotope excursion that points to subsequent severe disturbance
of the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle.
2 Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
3 Department of Earth and Environmental Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
4 Department of Earth Sciences, Pokfulam Road, University of Hong Kong.
5 Department of Bioengineering, University of Strathclyde, Wolfson Building, 106 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NW, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: p.wignall{at}see.leeds.ac.uk
