Versão online: http://www.lneg.pt/iedt/unidades/16/paginas/26/30/185
Comunicações Geológicas (2014) 101, Especial III, 1473-1476
IX CNG/2º CoGePLiP, Porto 2014
ISSN: 0873-948X; e-ISSN: 1647-581X
Assessing the causes of the End-Triassic biotic crisis, a review
Avaliando as causas da crise biótica fini-triássica, uma revisão
N. Youbi1,2*, A. Marzoli3, H. Bertrand4, E. Font5, J. Dal Corso3, L. Martins2, J. Madeira5,
J. Mata2, G. Bellieni3, S. Callegaro3, M. Kh. Bensalah1,2, M. Bahir1
Artigo Curto
Short Article
.
© 2014 LNEG – Laboratório Nacional de Geologia e Energia IP
Abstract: The end-Triassic biotic crisis marks one of the major mass
extinction events in the history of life. Several explanations for this
event have been suggested, but all present unanswered challenges: (i)
sea-level fluctuations during the Late Triassic, does not explain the
suddenness of the extinctions in the marine realm; (ii) no impact
crater has been dated to coincide with the Triassic–Jurassic boundary
(the impact responsible for the annular Manicouagan Reservoir
occurred about 12 million years before the extinction event and the
Rochechouart impact predates the Tr-J boundary by 1-2 Ma); (iii)
massive volcanic eruptions, specifically the flood basalts of the
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), would have released
carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide and aerosols, which would cause
either intense global warming (from the former) or cooling (from the
latter). In this work we will discuss the possibility of causal link
between the CAMP, the bolide impact(s) and the end-Triassic mass
extinction.
Keywords: Triassic–Jurassic boundary, Mass extinctions, Central
Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) volcanism, Impact craters,
Newark Supergroup.
Resumo: A crise biótica final do Triássico marca um dos principais
eventos de extinção em massa na história da vida. Foram propostas
várias explicações para este evento, mas todas têm desafios sem
resposta: (i) flutuações do nível do mar durante o final do Triássico,
que, no entanto, não explicam a rapidez das extinções no reino
marinho; (ii) impacto de um asteróide, mas nenhuma cratera de
impacto datada coincide com o limite Triássico-Jurássico (o impacto
responsável pela estrutura anular de Manicouagan ocorreu cerca de
12 milhões de anos antes do evento de extinção e o impacto de
Rochechouart antecede o limite Tr- J em 1–2 Ma); (iii) volumosas
erupções vulcânicas, especificamente os traps basálticos da CAMP,
que libertaram dióxido de carbono e/ou dióxido de enxofre e
aerossóis, o que causaria intenso aquecimento global (no caso do
primeiro) ou arrefecimento (no segundo caso). Neste trabalho
discute-se a possibilidade de nexo de causalidade entre a CAMP,
impacto(s) meteorítico(s) e a extinção em massa do final do
Triássico.
Palavras-chave: Limite Triássico-Jurássico, Extinções em massa,
Vulcanismo da província magmática do Atlântico Central (CAMP),
Crateras de impacto, Supergrupo de Newark.
1
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences-Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad
University, P.O. Box 2390, Marrakech, Morocco.
2
Centro de Geologia da Universidade de Lisboa (CeGUL), Faculdade de
Ciências (FCUL), Departamento de Geologia (GeoFCUL), Lisboa, Portugal
3
Dipartimento di Geoscienze e CNR-IGG, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
4
Université Lyon 1 et Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratoire de
Géologie de Lyon, UMR CNRS 5276, Lyon Cedex 7, France
5
Instituto Dom Luiz (LA), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências,
Departamento de Geologia, Lisboa, Portugal.
*
Corresponding author / Autor correspondente: [email protected]
1. Introduction
The end-Triassic biotic crisis is one of the so called “big
five” Phanerozoic mass extinctions (e.g., Raup &
Sepkoski, 1982), when ca. 50% of marine genera
disappeared and a significant turnover of terrestrial fauna
and flora occurred. During the last decades, there has been
a vigorous debate about the stratigraphic position of the
Triassic-Jurassic (Tr-J) boundary and the mechanisms that
triggered the associated mass extinction. Proponents of the
idea that continental flood basalts of the Central Atlantic
Magmatic Province (CAMP) are responsible for the endTriassic biotic crisis (e.g., Knight et al., 2004; Marzoli et
al., 2004; Nomade et al., 2007; Vérati et al., 2007;
Schaltegger et al., 2008; Tanner et al., 2008; Martins &
Mata, 2010-11; Schoene et al., 2010; Dal Corso et al.,
2014) are opposed by those who favor an extraterrestrial
origin linked to meteoritic impact(s) (Olsen et al., 2002).
The choice between these hypothesis is not easy given the
difficulties to date and correlate the onset of the CAMP in
continental areas with the marine realm turnover (e.g.,
Whiteside et al., 2007, 2008; Marzoli et al., 2008; Deenen
et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b), and to date impact craters.
Indeed, there are 184 confirmed impact structures known
on Earth (Spray & Elliott, 2014) but only a very small
number of impact structures has yielded well-constrained
ages (e.g., Jourdan et al., 2009). Other possible causes of
the end-Triassic mass extinction are, among others, the
sea-level change and anoxia (Hallam & Wignall, 1997;
Wignall, 2001). However, these mechanisms do not
explain extinction in both marine and terrestrial
ecosystems. In this work, we will discuss the possibility of
a causal link between the CAMP volcanism, bolide
impact(s) and the end-Triassic mass extinction.
In some of the exposed Mesozoic rift basins of the
Atlantic passive margin of North America (Newark
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N. Youbi et al. / Comunicações Geológicas (2014) 101, Especial III, 1473-1476
Supergroup), and North Africa (Argana and Khemissat
basins, Morocco), it has been shown that a palynological
turnover exists, possibly correlated with the Tr-J boundary
(Olsen, 1997; Deenen et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b). The
palynological turnover is located a few meters below the
CAMP basaltic lavas flows, which yielded precise U/Pb
ages ranging from of 201.566 ± 0.031 Ma to 201.274 ±
0.032 Ma (e.g., Blackburn et al., 2013). Therefore, it has
been suggested that the entire CAMP LIP postdates the
extinction event (by about 20-40 k.y, on the basis of
cyclostratigraphic evidence), thus apparently denying a
possible causal link between the magmatic event and the
biotic turnover.
2. Did the CAMP volcanism trigger the end- Triassic
mass extinction?
The CAMP was emplaced at ca. 201 Ma, close to the
Triassic–Jurassic boundary (Marzoli et al., 1999, 2004,
2011; Schoene et al., 2010; Blackburn et al., 2013) during
the early stages of the break-up of the supercontinent
Pangaea that led to the opening of the Central Atlantic
Ocean. CAMP magmatism is nowadays represented by
remnants of intrusive (layered intrusions, sills, dykes) and
extrusive (pyroclastic sequences and lava flows) rocks that
occur in once-contiguous parts of northwestern Africa,
southwestern Europe, and North and South America (e.g.,
Youbi et al., 2003; Martins et al., 2008; Callegaro et al.,
2013, 2014).
The end-Triassic mass extinction event has been
linked to the eruption of the CAMP basalts. The
estimated volume of erupted basalts (2-4×106 km3) and
the brevity of emplacement (probably much less than 1
My for the peak activity), centred around the Tr-J
boundary, make the eruption of CAMP basalts the key
event of the Tr-J boundary interval (e.g., Marzoli et al.,
2004; Dal Corso et al., 2014). One argument widely used
to suggest that CAMP lavas pre-dated the Tr-J boundary
in Morocco is based on the presence of two brief
magnetic reversals in the intermediate units of the
Tiourjdal and Oued Lhar sections (Morocco) that were
correlated to the E23r chron from the Newark basin and
to the SA5n.2r/3r and SA5r chrons of the St Audries Bay
(Knight et al., 2004). However, the primary origin for
these negative (reverse) magnetic components is
questionable since no field or reversal test was provided
to constrain the primary character of the remanence, as
well as because of the small number of samples (Font et
al., 2011).
The atmospheric pCO2 increase originated from the
CAMP eruptions could have triggered global warming
while SO2 degassing could have induced a global cooling
if introduced into the stratosphere over a brief time
interval (e.g., van de Schootbrugge et al., 2009). Severe
SO2 loading should leave a discernible geochemical
record in marine and lacustrine sediments, fossil soils,
and fossil plant anatomy (e.g., van de Schootbrugge et
al., 2009). The available data from the terrestrial record
are consistent with an abrupt perturbation of the carbon
cycle, specifically with an increase in CO2. The release of
more than 8,000 Gt of CO2 (Beerling & Berner, 2002;
Schaller et al., 2011) is thought to have triggered global
warming, shallow marine anoxia leading to blooms of
prasinophyte green algae (van de Schootbrugge et al.,
2007; Quan et al., 2008) and the carbon cycle
perturbations recorded in the carbon stable isotope
composition of carbonates and organic matter (Hesselbo
et al., 2002; Galli et al., 2005; van de Schootbrugge et
al., 2007). Carbon isotope curves from higher plant nalkanes and total organic carbon from a marine
sedimentary succession in Austria (Ruhl et al., 2011) can
be correlated to the carbonate and organic carbon isotope
excursions recorded in other marine (e.g., England;
Hesselbo et al., 2002) and continental (Morocco, Canada;
Deenen et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b; Dal Corso et al.,
2014)
geological
settings.
These
stratigraphic
correlations suggest that the end-Triassic extinction event
occurred slightly before the oldest basalts in eastern
North America, but simultaneously with the eruption of
the oldest flows in Morocco (as also suggested by
Deenen et al., 2010, 2011a, 2011b). CAMP eruptions,
mass extinction, and carbon isotope excursions seem to
be coincident, thus making the case for a volcanic cause
for the mass extinction. The catastrophic dissociation of
gas hydrates (suggested as one possible cause of the
largest mass extinction of all time, the so-called "Great
Dying" at the end of the Permian Period) may have
exacerbated greenhouse conditions (Ruhl et al., 2011).
3. The bolide impact(s) alternative theory
A viable alternative for a CAMP-induced extinction at the
end of the Triassic is bolide impact(s). The overall
extinction pattern and associated floral effects at the end of
the Triassic do parallel those associated with the
Cretaceous-Tertiary Chicxulub impact (Hildebrand et al.,
1991). Evidence includes the presence of a massive
increase of spores at the Tr-J boundary locally found in the
Newark basin (Fowell et al., 1994). The iridium anomalies
recorded close to the Tr-J boundary in the Newark and
Fundy basins are very weak compared to those of the
Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and, rather than being a
witness of a bolide impact, suggest enrichment of
volcanogenic platinum group metals in organic matter rich
sedimentary levels (Olsen et al., 2002; Tanner et al.,
2008). Recently, the rather small (~23 km in diameter)
Rochechouart impact structure, hosted by largely
Paleozoic (Variscan) crystalline rocks of the French
Massif Central, yielded a near Tr-J boundary age by
40
Ar/39Ar dating of sanidine (201.4 ± 2.4 Ma, that would
correspond to about 203.4 Ma, recalculated after Renne et
al., 2010) and adularia (200.5 ± 2.2 Ma; 2σ) (Schmieder et
al., 2010). These ages are in contradiction with a formerly
postulated 214 ± 8 Ma Late Triassic age (Kelley & Spray,
1997). Nonetheless, the newly established age of the
Rochechouart impact predates the Tr-J boundary (201.3
Ma; Schone et al., 2010) by about 2 Ma not suggesting any
cause-and-effect relationship.
Assessing the causes of the End-Triassic
4. Conclusions
The end of the Triassic is marked by one of the major mass
extinction events in the history of life. Several
explanations for this event have been suggested, but all
present unanswered challenges: (i) sea-level fluctuations
during the Late Triassic, which, however, do not explain
the suddenness of the extinctions in the marine realm; (ii)
Asteroid impact(s), but no impact crater has been dated to
coincide with the end-Triassic extinction (the impact
responsible for the annular Manicouagan Reservoir
occurred about 12 million years before the extinction event
and the Rochechouart impact predates the Tr-J boundary
by 1-2 Ma); (iii) massive volcanic eruptions, specifically
the flood basalts of the CAMP, would have released
carbon dioxide and/or sulfur dioxide and aerosols, which
would have caused either intense global warming (from
the former) or cooling (from the latter).
It has long been noted that the implications of bolide
impacts and massive volcanism can be very similar (Glen,
1994). The Cretaceous-Tertiary Chicxulub bolide, for
example, struck marine limestone and sulfates, so a
massive input of both CO2 and SO2 has been proposed as a
major cause of the extinctions and ecosystem disruption
(Pope et al., 1994), the same cause proposed for the effects
of gas emissions from terrestrial LIPs. Indeed, an impact
origin for both the Triassic-Jurassic and CretaceousTertiary LIPs has been hypothesized (Boslough et al.,
1996), although plausible linkages with the specific events
seem hard to establish. Nonetheless, the coincidence of the
three largest Phanerozoic mass extinctions with the three
largest continental LIPs (End-Permian/Siberian Traps with
an estimated volume of erupted basalts of ~2.5 × 106 km3,
End Triassic/CAMP/ 2–4×106 km3 and End-Cretaceous/
Deccan Traps/ ~2.6 × 106 km3), one of which also possibly
associated to a giant bolide impact (Chicxulub), strongly
suggest a cause-and-effect relationship.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the following bilateral projects:
FCT (Portugal)-CNRST (Morocco), CNRi (Italy) -CNRST
(Morocco) and PICS, CNRS (France)-CNRST (Morocco).
Additional funding was provided by FCT project (ref.
PTDC/CTE-GIX/117298/2010).
We
acknowledge
thoughtful comments by the two anonymous reviewers and
the conveners of the thematic session “Extreme Events”
Maria Ana Baptista (ISEL) and Eric Font (FCUL).
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