Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Daniel L. Johnson, Theodore M. Present, Menghan Li, Yanan Shen, Jess F. Adkins
Summary: The dynamics of the marine sulfur cycle across the End-Permian Mass Extinction have been obscured by disagreement between sulfur isotopic records. New measurements of carbonate-associated sulfate delta S-34 reveal substantial variation and evidence for mixing within samples. This suggests that sedimentary redox oscillations may explain the heterogeneity in delta S-34 within many EPME carbonates.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Fanghui Hua, Longyi Shao, Tianchang Zhang, David P. G. Bond, Xuetian Wang, Juan Wang, Zhiming Yan, Jing Lu, Jason Hilton
Summary: This study investigates organic carbon isotopes and geochemical proxies for environmental change in a palaeotropical wetland succession in southwest China and establishes a temporal framework for the terrestrial PTME. The research finds that carbon cycle destabilization lasted approximately 0.6 million years, and accelerated erosion followed the collapse of terrestrial ecosystems about 700,000 years after the marine PTME.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Lei Jiang, Chunfang Cai, Lei Xiang, Junxuan Fan, Kaikai Li, Liulu Cai, Thomas J. Algeo, Feifei Zhang
Summary: This study investigates the sulfur isotopic variation of kerogen and pyrite in marine sections from the late Permian period in South China. The results show that oxidation of H2S in anoxic water leads to negative shifts in sulfur isotopes, and the pyritization process is slow below the sediment-water interface. In deep-water sections, microbial sulfate reduction is observed. The increase in sedimentation rates and organic matter inputs during the Permian-Triassic transition are likely contributing factors to the observed sulfur isotopic changes.
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
He Zhao, Zhengyi Lyu, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Thomas J. Algeo, Michael J. Orchard, Yongsheng Liu, Zhaochu Hu, Lei Zhang, Xiumei Zhang
Summary: Investigation of the end-Permian mass extinction has been facilitated by high-resolution conodont biostratigraphic studies. The study provides the first integrated, high-resolution biochemostratigraphic framework for a shallow-marine PTB succession in the eastern Tethys region.
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Xiemin Huang, Dandan Li, Xiaolin Zhang, Yilun Xu, Lilin Sun, Menghan Li, Yanan Shen
Summary: Globally, there have been significant changes in the global carbon cycle during the Late Permian to Early Triassic, as indicated by the positive and negative C-isotope excursions in carbonate rocks. This study presents high-resolution carbonate C-isotopic data from the Permian-Triassic transition in South China, revealing a decrease followed by an increase in delta C-13(carb) during microbialite formation. The correlation between the Dajiang section and the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) suggests a hiatus between pre-extinction skeletal limestones and microbialite deposition. The study suggests that the formation of microbialite may have been influenced by both global and local environmental changes.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Alcides Nobrega Sial, Jiubin Chen, Christoph Korte, Manoj Kumar Pandit, Jorge E. Spangenberg, Juan Carlos Silva-Tamayo, Luiz Drude de Lacerda, Valderez Pinto Ferreira, Jose Antonio Barbosa, Claudio Gaucher, Natan Silva Pereira, Paulo Ricardo Riedel
Summary: The study presents high-resolution organic carbon isotope, Hg concentration, and Hg isotope curves at the PTB sections in India and China. The Hg/TOC spikes observed coincide with major environmental and carbon isotope changes. Analysis of redox-sensitive elements reveals variations in Hg/TOC spikes under different paleoredox conditions. The study highlights the significance of Hg/TOC ratios as a paleoenvironmental proxy and a tool for stratigraphic correlation.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Francis O. Dudas, Hua Zhang, Shu-Zhong Shen, Samuel A. Bowring
Summary: This study presents extensive major and trace element data for the Permian-Triassic boundary at Meishan, China, revealing changes in carbonate lithology, siliciclastic input, diagenesis, and redox conditions. The trace element patterns suggest variations in provenance and weathering processes, with anomalous behavior noted for Ba, Zr, and Zn. Rare earth elements are controlled by the siliciclastic fraction, and Ce and Eu anomalies are not reliable indicators of the redox environment at Meishan.
FRONTIERS IN EARTH SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Deependra Pratap Singh, Bodhisatwa Hazra, David A. Wood, Pradeep K. Singh
Summary: This study evaluated Lower Permian Barren Measures Formation shales from two Damodar Valley sub-basins in India to understand the impact of petrographic composition and kerogen type on shale source rock potentiality and reaction kinetics. Different types of kerogen were found to influence the reactivity of shales, with higher thermal maturity levels and type III-IV kerogen-bearing shales displaying lower reactivity. Heat-altered shales with igneous intrusions showed the least reactivity, indicating the significant impact of removing hydrocarbons from shales.
JOURNAL OF ASIAN EARTH SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Roger N. Bryant, Theodore M. Present, Anne-Sofie C. Ahm, Harry-Luke O. McClelland, Dan Razionale, Clara L. Blattler
Summary: This study examines the environmental factors driving early marine cementation in the Capitan Reef Complex in West Texas using stable isotope patterns. The results suggest that microbial sulfate reduction and recrystallization of carbonate phases were spatially and temporally coincident, leading to the incorporation of enriched sulfur isotopes in diagenetic calcite. The study also reveals that local diagenetic conditions influenced the extent of sulfur isotopic enrichment in carbonates compared to seawater. Additionally, the sulfate concentration in the Delaware Basin may have been lower during the Permian, resulting in more extensive isotopic evolution during carbonate recrystallization.
GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ying Cui, Mingsong Li, Elsbeth E. van Soelen, Francien Peterse, Wolfram M. Kurschner
Summary: The end-Permian mass extinction event, associated with global carbon cycle perturbations and Siberian Traps volcanism, involved massive and rapid CO2 emissions, leading to ocean pH decline and extreme global temperature increase. This may have pushed the Earth system to a critical tipping point, causing irreversible mass extinction.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Geology
Chunjiang Wang, Henk Visscher
Summary: By examining the marine Permian-Triassic reference section in Meishan, China, researchers identified molecular biomarkers of Gigantopteris, a distinctive Permian plant, providing evidence of synchronous extinction between terrestrial and marine organisms. The study also revealed a parallel reduction in lignin phenols, indicating that aridity-driven extinction may have affected the entire wetland flora in the region.
Article
Geography, Physical
Jing Lu, Ye Wang, Minfang Yang, Peixin Zhang, David P. G. Bond, Longyi Shao, Jason Hilton
Summary: The Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) is the greatest biodiversity crisis in Earth history. While the marine crisis is well understood, the timing and cause of terrestrial losses remain unclear. By studying a terrestrial sequence in the Liujiang Coalfield on the North China Plate, researchers have identified the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) at approximately 251.9 +/- 1.1 million years ago. The onset of the End-Permian Terrestrial Collapse (EPTC) in the North China Plate was synchronous with the crisis in low latitudes, but occurred about 310 kyr later in higher southerly latitudes. Wildfires may have played a major role in driving the EPTC, leading to devastating consequences for the marine realm.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Yu Jiao, Lian Zhou, Thomas J. Algeo, Jun Shen, Lanping Feng, Yating Hu, Jinhua Liu, Liwei Chi, Minghui Shi
Summary: This study provides insights into the regional arc magmatism linked to volcanism in South China during the Permian-Triassic transition.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Qi Meng, Wuqiang Xue, Fayao Chen, Jiaxin Yan, Jiahua Cai, Yadong Sun, Paul B. Wignall, Ke Liu, Zhichen Liu, Deng Chen
Summary: This study investigates the Guadalupian SRDs on the Yangtze Carbonate Platform, showing that changes in carbonate productivity during this time have significant impacts on biotic turnovers and environmental factors. The research also reveals three stages of SRDs onlap during the platform evolution and their correlation with eustatic sea-level fluctuations.
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Geology
Min Zhang, Hua-Feng Qin, Kuang He, Yi-Fei Hou, Quan-Feng Zheng, Cheng-Long Deng, Yan He, Shu-Zhong Shen, Ri-Xiang Zhu, Yong-Xin Pan
Summary: Researchers conducted high-resolution magnetostratigraphy in the Meishan sections in southeastern China, identifying multiple magnetic polarity reversals which provide a potential reference for the end-Permian mass extinction and the Permian-Triassic transition.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Zhen Guo, Zhong-Qiang Chen, David A. T. Harper, Yuangeng Huang
Summary: The Rhynchonellida, a group of brachiopods, showed increased lineage richness in the Early and early Middle Triassic with changes in shell size and development of ornamentation. The study suggests that paedomorphosis might have been a survival strategy for certain genera to thrive in the harsh environment after the P/Tr extinction.
Article
Geography, Physical
Chen Han, Michael J. Orchard, Shunling Wu, Laishi Zhao, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Martyn L. Golding, Irfan U. Jan, Zhengyi Lyu, Syed Hashmi
Summary: This study focused on the morphological changes and ontogenetic series of important Griesbachian-Dienerian conodonts based on well-preserved specimens from northwestern Pakistan. By reconstructing their phylogenetic relationships and analyzing morphometric data, the study identified complex evolutionary trends and heterochronic patterns in platform growth. The reduction of platform in late Griesbachian species was attributed to progenesis and neoteny, while the Dienerian segminate conodonts exhibited postdisplacement of the flange. Additionally, the study suggested that the Dienerian Neospathodus lineage represented a paedomorphosis of the flange, while the Sw. kummeli-Eu. costatus lineage may have undergone peramorphosis of the platform through acceleration.
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Takuto Ando, Ken Sawada, Kazuki Okano, Reishi Takashima, Hiroshi Nishi
Summary: In sediments from the Goguel level of the Vocontian Basin in southeastern France, it was found that 2-methylhopanoid producers, prasinophyte algae, and other marine organisms played key ecological roles during OAE 1a, with low production potentially leading to anoxia.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Xiangdong Wang, Peter A. Cawood, Stephen E. Grasby, Guangyi Sun, Laishi Zhao, Zhong-Qiang Chen
Summary: The Cryogenian-Ediacaran transition is a crucial period in the evolution of climate, ocean chemistry, and early organisms. The melting of Marinoan ice sheets and the subsequent deposition of cap carbonate/dolomite are associated with unusual carbon cycling and enhanced upwelling and oceanic oxygenation.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Paleontology
Zhen Guo, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Yuangeng Huang, Hongfei Chen, Yunming Qiu, Xiao Guo
Summary: This study described 23 species of brachiopods in the southern Qilian Mountains of China, establishing two new genera and six new species. Network analysis revealed six brachiopod groups worldwide during the Anisian, with the Qilian fauna showing lower affinities with other contemporaneous faunas.
PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Siqi Wu, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Yuheng Fang, Yu Pei, William J. Foster
Summary: Abundant columnar microfossils from the Permian-Triassic boundary microbialites in South China indicate that Pleurocapsales played a key role in the construction of post-extinction microbialites.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yinghao Jing, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Ross P. Anderson, Xue Wang, Zemin Zheng, Xueqian Feng
Summary: This study investigates the Tonian Longfengshan biota in Hebei Province, North China using various microscopic and geochemical analysis techniques. The results show that the fossil specimens are preserved as carbonaceous patches and have high calcium content. Iron-rich clay minerals are also associated with the fossils. The integration of data suggests that the fossil-bearing shale was deposited in the subtidal zone below storm wave base, and the degradation process of the fossils may have been inhibited by iron-replete but sulfate-depleted porewater.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geology
Shiho Kurosawa, Satoshi Furota, Mayu Mitsui, Ken Sawada, Koji Seike, Noboru Furukawa, Makoto Ito
Summary: The deposition of hemipelagic sediments varies with the progradation and retrogradation of deep-water depositional systems and the input of sediment from turbidity currents. Hemipelagites can also document temporal perturbations of geological and paleoclimatic conditions.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuangeng Huang, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Peter D. Roopnarine, Michael J. Benton, Laishi Zhao, Xueqian Feng, Zhenhua Li
Summary: The history of Earth's biodiversity has been marked by periodic mass extinctions, with major declines in species richness. However, the accompanying ecological collapse has seldom been quantitatively evaluated. The Permian-Triassic mass extinction, as the largest known extinction event, permanently changed marine ecosystems and facilitated the transition from the Paleozoic to Mesozoic faunas. This extinction event provides insight into the relationship between species richness and ecological dynamics during severe extinctions, but the ecological collapse during this event has not been thoroughly examined.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Masashi A. Ikeda, Hideto Nakamura, Ken Sawada
Summary: Lichens play important roles in terrestrial ecosystems but their paleoenvironmental ecology and evolutionary history remain a mystery due to their difficulty in preservation. By analyzing lipid contents of lichen samples, we found specific alkene compositions that could be used for chemotaxonomy. These findings suggest a hidden origin for the detected alkenes in sediments and propose the potential use of these compounds in reconstructing past lichen composition.
ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Kunio Kaiho, Stephen E. Grasby, Zhong-Qiang Chen
Summary: A series of environmental extreme events and mass extinctions were discovered at the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary (GLB), which may have been caused by volcanic eruptions of the Emeishan large igneous province (LIP). The study suggests that volcanic activity related to the Emeishan LIP may have led to these environmental extreme events and mass extinctions.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Xue Wang, Yinghao Jing, Huan Peng, Hao Yang, Zhenli Zhu, Zhong-Qiang Chen
Summary: This study investigates the Cadmium isotopes from the Xiamaling Formation in North China to evaluate the nutrient utilization and paleo-productivity in the 1.4 Ga ocean. The results show variations in delta 114Cd values, indicating changes in nutrient utilization rate and redox conditions. However, nutrient consumption in the ocean was still incomplete, slowing down the evolution of phytoplanktons in the 1.4 Ga ocean in the North China Craton.
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Shunling Wu, Chen Han, Martyn L. Golding, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Zhengyi Lyu, Laishi Zhao
Summary: This study presents integrated conodont biostratigraphy and carbon isotope analysis of the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) beds and Lower Triassic succession in the Baoshan block. The dominant conodont faunas in the dolomitized Hewanjie Formation are Hindeodus and Isarcicella species, along with Eurygnathodus and the Ellisoniidae. The conodont zones and carbon isotope profile are consistent with those from other well-documented sections worldwide. The study also indicates a shallow water-depth based on conodont biofacies analysis.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Zhengyi Lyu, Charles M. Henderson, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Jinnan Tong, Laishi Zhao, Chen Han, Shunling Wu
Summary: A precise global timescale for the Lower Triassic Series is essential for understanding the sequence of events following the mass extinction. The recognition of an Induan-Olenekian boundary (IOB) is crucial for establishing a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework for this interval. Recent research on conodont biostratigraphy has led to a refined definition of the IOB, with proposed markers for the boundary. Rating: 8
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhen Guo, Joseph T. Flannery-Sutherland, Michael J. Benton, Zhong-Qiang Chen
Summary: Using Bayesian analyses, this study finds that brachiopods and bivalves displayed similar large-scale trends of diversification before the Jurassic period. The extinction of major brachiopod clades during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction set the stage for the switch from brachiopods to bivalves, with high ocean temperatures post-extinction further facilitating the displacement of brachiopods by bivalves.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)