Geological Society of America

14 Mass Extinction in Earth History: New Insights from Paleobiological, Geochemical, and Modeling Studies of Mass Extinction Events

Monday, 9 March 2020
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Meeting Room 201A

RECOMPILATION OF CLIMATE-SENSITIVE SEDIMENTS ACROSS THE PERMIAN-TRIASSIC BOUNDARY

Paper number: 14-5
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 2:35 PM – 2:55 PM

Authors

Heather Brauer Presenting Author
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Mitali D. Gautam
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Angela Osen
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Christopher Scotese
Director, PALEOMAP Project,, Evanston, IL
Arne Winguth
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Cornelia Winguth
University of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX

Abstract

The largest mass extinction occurred near the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB; 251.902 ± 0.024 Ma), with the extinction of more than 90% of aquatic species and 70% of terrestrial species. In this study we have compiled a Late Permian to Early Triassic data base of climate-sensitive sediments from Rees et al., (2002), the Paleomap Project by Scotese (2001), and additional literature. Upper Permian (259.1-254.9 Ma) and Lower Triassic (251.9-247.2 Ma) biostratigraphic age constraints were applied to the sedimentary record and the paleogeographic information of these data was updated using Gplates 2.0. These data are compared with water masses and climate sensitivity simulations from the fully coupled comprehensive Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). The climate simulation using radiative forcing 4xCO₂ relative to preindustrial atmospheric levels (or 4xCO₂ PAL) is consistent climate-sensitive reconstruction for the Late Permian whereas the most extreme scenario, a 12xCO₂ simulation with lower cloud optical depth may fit best the reconstructed condition for the Early Triassic.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 52, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2020SC-343439

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