State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing 210008, China.
Science. 2011 Dec 9;334(6061):1367-72. doi: 10.1126/science.1213454. Epub 2011 Nov 17.
The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth history. To better constrain the timing, and ultimately the causes of this event, we collected a suite of geochronologic, isotopic, and biostratigraphic data on several well-preserved sedimentary sections in South China. High-precision U-Pb dating reveals that the extinction peak occurred just before 252.28 ± 0.08 million years ago, after a decline of 2 per mil (‰) in δ(13)C over 90,000 years, and coincided with a δ(13)C excursion of -5‰ that is estimated to have lasted ≤20,000 years. The extinction interval was less than 200,000 years and synchronous in marine and terrestrial realms; associated charcoal-rich and soot-bearing layers indicate widespread wildfires on land. A massive release of thermogenic carbon dioxide and/or methane may have caused the catastrophic extinction.
二叠纪末大灭绝是地球历史上最严重的生物多样性危机之一。为了更好地限定这一事件的时间，最终确定其成因，我们对华南地区几个保存完好的沉积剖面进行了一系列地质年代学、同位素和生物地层学数据的收集。高精度的 U-Pb 定年表明，灭绝高峰发生在 252.28±0.08 百万年前，在此之前，δ(13)C 下降了 2 个千分比（‰），历时 9 万多年，与 δ(13)C 负向漂移 5‰的时期相吻合，据估计，这一时期持续时间≤2 万年。灭绝间隔时间不到 20 万年，在海洋和陆地领域同步发生；与之相关的富含木炭和含炭层表明陆地上发生了广泛的野火。大量的热成因二氧化碳和/或甲烷的释放可能导致了这场灾难性的灭绝。
