The End Permian
s…?
Mass Extinction
David M. Syracuse, I – Presenter
November 17th, 2008
GLY 529
An Example
A bah-jillion mya
Where are we?
When are we?
•Something mildly interesting
about the not-so-recent past.
1
Literature Cited
Introduction
1
Loss of about 95% of all life on earth.
When was it?
2
About 251 million years ago.
When was it?
• In the Phanerozoic Eon.
• Start in the Paleozoic Era,
end in the Mesozoic Era.
• Start in the Permian Period,
end in the Triassic Period.
• One event in the
Guadalupian Epoch.
• One event in the Lopingian.
3
The Name
• Named for the
Kingdom of Perm, in
present-day northern
Russia.
How do we Know?
• The condont Hindeodus parvus is used as a
marker.
• It first appears in the Triassic.
4
How do we Know?
• A familiar professor at the Permian/Triassic Global
Stratotype Section and Point in Meishan, China.
5
How do we Know?
Black Shale
Permian-Triassic Boundary
Limestone
How do we Know?
The Stage
Pangæa
6
The Stage
University of Texas at Austin, Institute for
Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences
PLATES Animation of paleotectonic reconstructions
Permian Conditions
•Less Continental Shelf – Pangæa
7
Permian Conditions
• Began with glaciers on the poles.
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Permian Conditions
• Large, cool oceans towards the poles.
• Warmer equatorial water.
• Vast dry areas inland.
• Seasonal fluctuations – large areas of land away
from water.
• Reduced continental shelf area.
Permian Conditions
• Pangæa – not much diversity in environment, so
not much diversity in organisms?
• Arid conditions.
• Ripe for a mass extinction already.
The Players
• Many sessile organisms lived in reefs.
• Large ferns and large insects from Carboniferous.
• Many large tetrapods existed.
• “Reptilomorph” tetrapods gave way to the
beginnings of mammals.
• Large conifer forests (gave way to lycopsids)
The Players
• Foraminifera (big losses in Guadalupian).
• Trilobites (extinct in early Triassic).
• Corals, Brachiopods (lost most genera).
• Ammonoids, Nautiloids (lost most genera).
• Huge sponge reefs (gone).
The Tree of Life Project
Insects (odonata vs. neoptera) and Mammalian lineages
The Insects
• Insects from the carboniferous – fixed wings.
• All very large insects (wingspan ≈ 75 cm!)
became extinct.
• New forms – beetles and flies with foldable wings.
• What could have changed so significantly?
The Insects
13
Meganeuropsis permiana
The Insects
• Only mass extinction to significantly affect insects.
• large insects respired by rapid tracheal
contractions.
• Atmosphere was not higher in oxygen.
• Heat, aridity, and loss of habitat or breeding
grounds may have done them in.
The Insects
• About 6,500 speices of extant odonata.
• Hundreds of thousands of extant neoptera.
• Neoptera radiated extensively after the Permian.
The Pre-mammals
• Many “reptilomorph” animals show signs of a
transition to mammals.
• The extinction of larger reptile-like animals paved
the way for mammals.
• Extreme conditions on Pangæa may have
favoured small endothermic beasties.
Mammals, etc.
Mammals (you. me. marmosets.)
Diapsids (archosaurs, etc.)
Therapsids (will give rise to mammals)
Pelycosaurs (big sails, reptilomorph)
Large gap
in fossil
Record!
Synapsids (first amniotes – Carboniferous)
Dominant 4-pods
16
The Pre-mammals
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Lystrosaurus
The (many) Causes
The Causes I
260 mya
• The first event was probably an eruption of the
Emeishan flood basalts in the Guadalupian Epoch.
• Regression due to doming caused loss of shallowwater habitat.
Mantle Plume
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Crustal Doming
Crust
MOHO
Core
Mantle
Emeishan flood basalts
• Erupted in the Guadalupian.
• Affected warm-water marine invertebrates.
• Probably killed off most forminiferans.
• Regression might be result of doming prior to
eruption.
Emeishan flood basalts
• Regression then transgression noted at the end of
the Guadalupian.
• Due to doming?
• Caused extinction in shallow marine
environments.
• Quick recovery.
The Siberian Traps
251 mya
• Erupted slightly before the Permian-Triassic
boundary.
• May have erupted for as long as 1 million years.
Permian Eruptions
11
Is that it?
• Two major eruptions.
• Loss of habitat from doming.
• Couldn’t cause a Mass Extinction.
The Causes II
• Emissions from the Traps and other eruptions.
• May have significantly changed the atmosphere.
• Mainly CO2, CH4 and SO4.
• Extended warming.
• Reduced Ocean Circulation.
• Anoxia in shallow/deep oceans.
The Causes III
• Hydrogen Sulfide.
• Emitted from bacteria and volcanoes.
• May have been stimulated by eutrophic deep
waters.
• Increased weathering delivers more nutrients to
oceans.
• Leads to anoxia – sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.
The Causes III
• Lacking oxygen, some bacteria can metabolize
sulfur, using it as the FEA.
• This produces hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas.
Oxygen – 32 g/mol
Nitrogen – 14 g/mol
Water – 18 g/mol
Carbon dioxide – 44 g/mol
34 g/mol
The Causes III
• The gas binds to enzymes in the mightycondrion
to stop the production of ATP.
• Quick death in high concentrations.
• May not have been in high enough
concentrations to kill.
• Could have caused local extinctions, and chronic
stress to organisms.
The Vultures
• Lots of stromatolites
after the extinction.
• Indicates unstable,
low-diversity
ecosystems.
14
The Vultures
The Vultures
• Increase in fungal spores towards end of Permian.
• Thus an increase in the need for decomposers.
18
Carbon Isotopes
• Different types of plants incorporate different
types of carbon (C3 vs. C4).
• Amount of carbon in sediments can indicate
productivity.
• Amounts of 13C took a negative excursion at the
end of the Permian.
• Both carbonate and organic carbon were
reduced.
Carbon Isotopes
17
Carbon Isotopes
20
Land Plants
• Vast conifer forests
existed in the Permian.
• Lycopsids replaced
the conifers after the
extinction.
• Recovery to preextinction levels came
in the Spathian stage,
about 10 million years
later
19
Conifers
Lycopsids
Land Plants
10
The Boundary
• No coal deposits in the first part of the Triassic.
• No chert.
• Black Shales indicate anoxia
• No reefs observed for 7 million years.
Lazarus Taxa
Forminifera
Lazarus Taxa
• Most Lazarus Taxa are filter-feeders.
• Could have survived anoxic or dysoxic
conditions.
• Evidence of migration of species to refugia.
• Many Elvis taxa as well, e.g. sponges.
Conclusions
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Conclusions
21
Conclusions
• Pangæa formed – reduced coastline.
• Traps eruptions – warming
• Reduced Oceanic circulation.
• Hydrogen Sulfide
• These factors combine to create the mother of all
extinctions.
Conclusions
22
Literature Cited
1. http://strata.geology.wisc.edu/jack/
2. http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/staff/dave/roanoke/time_scale.gif
3. Erwin DH, Bowring SA and Yugan J. 2002. End-Permian mass extinctions: A review. Geological Society of America
Special Paper 356:363-383.
4. http://www.idm.gov.vn/Nguon_luc/Xuat_ban/2004/B24/b1.htm
5. http://www.cortland.edu/Geology/images/news/0507/Meishan.jpg
6. Erwin DH, Bowring SA and Yugan J. 2002. End-Permian mass extinctions: A review. Geological Society of America
Special Paper 356:363-383.
7. http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2004/02/permian-earth.gif
8. http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/260_Permian_2globes.jpg
9. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v407/n6803/images/407458aa.2.
jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v407/n6803/fig_tab/407458a0_F1.html&usg=__tEGdoRxht_ldHxixcIv
4wBVTvyE=&h=322&w=600&sz=27&hl=en&start=30&um=1&tbnid=2Y7gdZ9pdmjRM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmantle%2Bplume%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den
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10. Loov CV, Brugman WA, Dilchert DL and Visscher H. 1999. The Delayed Resurgence of Equatorial Forests after the
Permian-Triassic Ecologic Crisis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(24):13857-13862.
11. Wignall PB. 2001. Large Igneous Provinces and Mass Extinctions. Earth-Science Reviews 53:1–33.
Literature Cited
12. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geo.brown.edu/SiberianBasalts/Siberian%2520Images/Siberian-flood-basaltsnear.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.geo.brown.edu/SiberianBasaltsWorkshop.htm&usg=__1k45M_vF8kKwgPUFbwhivZ8NZfI=&h=220&w=300&s
z=52&hl=en&start=11&sig2=QM6Df1nc9hJ3KD4VdI7fBg&um=1&tbnid=_iDcrQhhPjIV3M:&tbnh=85&tbnw=116&ei=448bSdjGKYqSedKoj
M8G&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsiberian%2Btraps%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:enUS:official%26sa%3DN
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Meganeura.jpg
14. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080704122847.htm
15. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol289/issue5478/images/medium/se2708684001.
gif&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/earthhistory/permo.htm&usg=__r5cmC2poMMIA_aoopewh9P0RfA4=&h=440&w=391&sz=45&hl=en
&start=34&sig2=dMD0xHfPPfWk6o2nQNCO5w&um=1&tbnid=TcayMUNr2vRnaM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=113&ei=OFkgScLZBYfOefaOkcEG&
prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstromatolite%2Bfossil%2Bpermian%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
16. http://www.physci.wsc.ma.edu/young/hgeol/geoinfo/timeline/pelycosaurs/pelycosaur.jpg
17. Gorjan P, Kaiho K, Chen ZQ. 2005. A Carbon-Isotope Study of an End-Permian Mass Extinction Horizon Bulla, Northern Italy: A negative
13C Shift Prior to the Marine Extinction. Terra Nova 20(4):253-258.
18. http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/images/070423.fungus.jpg
19. http://universe-review.ca/I10-32-Permian.jpg
20. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol289/issue5478/images/medium/se2708684001.gif&
imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/earthhistory/permo.htm&usg=__r5cmC2poMMIA_aoopewh9P0RfA4=&h=440&w=391&sz=45&hl=en&sta
rt=34&sig2=dMD0xHfPPfWk6o2nQNCO5w&um=1&tbnid=TcayMUNr2vRnaM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=113&ei=OFkgScLZBYfOefaOkcEG&prev
=/images%3Fq%3Dstromatolite%2Bfossil%2Bpermian%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
21. Erwin DH. 1990. The End Permian Mass Extinction. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 21:69-91.
22. Erwin DH. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES. www.els.net. Extinction: The End Permian Mass Extinction
Questions?