IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms11147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mercury anomalies and the timing of biotic recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction

Author

Listed:
  • Alyson M. Thibodeau

    (University of Toronto
    Dickinson College)

  • Kathleen Ritterbush

    (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103, USA)

  • Joyce A. Yager

    (University of Southern California)

  • A. Joshua West

    (University of Southern California)

  • Yadira Ibarra

    (Stanford University)

  • David J. Bottjer

    (University of Southern California)

  • William M. Berelson

    (University of Southern California)

  • Bridget A. Bergquist

    (University of Toronto)

  • Frank A. Corsetti

    (University of Southern California)

Abstract

The end-Triassic mass extinction overlapped with the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), and release of CO2 and other volcanic volatiles has been implicated in the extinction. However, the timing of marine biotic recovery versus CAMP eruptions remains uncertain. Here we use Hg concentrations and isotopes as indicators of CAMP volcanism in continental shelf sediments, the primary archive of faunal data. In Triassic–Jurassic strata, Muller Canyon, Nevada, Hg levels rise in the extinction interval, peak before the appearance of the first Jurassic ammonite, remain above background in association with a depauperate fauna, and fall to pre-extinction levels during significant pelagic and benthic faunal recovery. Hg isotopes display no significant mass independent fractionation within the extinction and depauperate intervals, consistent with a volcanic origin for the Hg. The Hg and palaeontological evidence from the same archive indicate that significant biotic recovery did not begin until CAMP eruptions ceased.

Suggested Citation

  • Alyson M. Thibodeau & Kathleen Ritterbush & Joyce A. Yager & A. Joshua West & Yadira Ibarra & David J. Bottjer & William M. Berelson & Bridget A. Bergquist & Frank A. Corsetti, 2016. "Mercury anomalies and the timing of biotic recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11147
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11147
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms11147?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joseph T. Flannery-Sutherland & Daniele Silvestro & Michael J. Benton, 2022. "Global diversity dynamics in the fossil record are regionally heterogeneous," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Remco Bos & Wang Zheng & Sofie Lindström & Hamed Sanei & Irene Waajen & Isabel M. Fendley & Tamsin A. Mather & Yang Wang & Jan Rohovec & Tomáš Navrátil & Appy Sluijs & Bas Schootbrugge, 2024. "Climate-forced Hg-remobilization associated with fern mutagenesis in the aftermath of the end-Triassic extinction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Jun Shen & Runsheng Yin & Thomas J. Algeo & Henrik H. Svensen & Shane D. Schoepfer, 2022. "Mercury evidence for combustion of organic-rich sediments during the end-Triassic crisis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.