Abstract
Oxygen deprivation and hydrogen sulfide toxicity are considered potent kill mechanisms during the mass extinction just before the Permian–Triassic boundary (~251.9 million years ago). However, the mechanism that drove vast stretches of the ocean to an anoxic state is unclear. Here, we present palaeoredox and phosphorus speciation data for a marine bathymetric transect from Svalbard. This shows that, before the extinction, enhanced weathering driven by Siberian Traps volcanism increased the influx of phosphorus, thus enhancing marine primary productivity and oxygen depletion in proximal shelf settings. However, this non-sulfidic state efficiently sequestered phosphorus in the sediment in association with iron minerals, thus restricting the intensity and spatial extent of oxygen-depleted waters. The collapse of vegetation on land immediately before the marine extinction changed the relative weathering influx of iron and sulfate. The resulting transition to euxinic (sulfidic) conditions led to enhanced remobilization of bioavailable phosphorus, initiating a feedback that caused the spread of anoxic waters across large portions of the shelf. This reconciles a lag of >0.3 million years between the onset of enhanced weathering and the development of widespread, but geographically variable, ocean anoxia, with major implications for extinction selectivity.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
P.B.W. (P.B.Wignall@leeds.ac.uk) and S.P. (planke@vbpr.no) should be consulted for material requests of Festningen and Deltadalen, respectively. The raw and processed geochemical data that support the findings of this study are available under Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo3878094.
Code availability
The R Markdown files to reproduce the data analysis as well as generate the accompanying data figures and the main and supplementary information texts can be found under Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3878094.
References
Burgess, S. D., Bowring, S. & Shen, S.-Z. High-precision timeline for Earth’s most severe extinction. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 3316–3321 (2014).
Wignall, P. B. & Twitchett, R. J. Oceanic anoxia and the end Permian mass extinction. Science 272, 1155–1158 (1996).
Cao, C. et al. Biogeochemical evidence for euxinic oceans and ecological disturbance presaging the end-Permian mass extinction event. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 281, 188–201 (2009).
Nabbefeld, B. et al. An integrated biomarker, isotopic and palaeoenvironmental study through the Late Permian event at Lusitaniadalen, Spitsbergen. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 291, 84–96 (2010).
Brennecka, G. A., Herrmann, A. D., Anbar, A. D. & Algeo, T. J. Rapid expansion of oceanic anoxia immediately before the end-Permian mass extinction. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 17631–17634 (2011).
Dustira, A. M. et al. Gradual onset of anoxia across the Permian–Triassic boundary in Svalbard, Norway. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 374, 303–313 (2013).
Schobben, M. et al. Flourishing ocean drives the end-Permian marine mass extinction. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 10298–10303 (2015).
Stanley, S. M. Estimates of the magnitudes of major marine mass extinctions in Earth history. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, E6325–E6334 (2016).
Kiehl, J. T. & Shields, C. A. Climate simulation of the latest Permian: implications for mass extinction. Geology 33, 757–760 (2005).
Hotinski, R. M., Bice, K. L., Kump, L. R., Najjar, R. G. & Arthur, M. A. Ocean stagnation and end-Permian anoxia. Geology 29, 7–10 (2001).
Meyer, K., Kump, L. & Ridgwell, A. Biogeochemical controls on photic-zone euxinia during the end-Permian mass extinction. Geology 36, 747–750 (2008).
Algeo, T. J. & Twitchett, R. J. Anomalous Early Triassic sediment fluxes due to elevated weathering rates and their biological consequences. Geology 38, 1023–1026 (2010).
Shen, J. et al. Marine productivity changes during the end-Permian crisis and Early Triassic recovery. Earth-Sci. Rev. 149, 136–162 (2015).
Tyrrell, T. The relative influences of nitrogen and phosphorus on oceanic primary production. Nature 400, 525–531 (1999).
Sephton, M. A. et al. Catastrophic soil erosion during the end-Permian biotic crisis. Geology 33, 941–944 (2005).
Sun, H. et al. Rapid enhancement of chemical weathering recorded by extremely light seawater lithium isotopes at the Permian–Triassic boundary. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 3782–3787 (2018).
Visscher, H. et al. Environmental mutagenesis during the end-Permian ecological crisis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 12952–12956 (2004).
Burgess, S. D., Muirhead, J. D. & Bowring, S. A. Initial pulse of Siberian Traps sills as the trigger of the end-Permian mass extinction. Nat. Commun. 8, 164 (2017).
Ward, P. D., Montgomery, D. R. & Smith, R. Altered river morphology in South Africa related to the Permian–Triassic extinction. Science 289, 1740–1743 (2000).
Algeo, T. et al. Evidence for a diachronous late Permian marine crisis from the Canadian Arctic region. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 124, 1424–1448 (2012).
Froelich, P. N. et al. Early oxidation of organic matter in pelagic sediments of the eastern equatorial: suboxic diagenesis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43, 1075–1090 (1979).
Krom, M. D. & Berner, R. A. The diagenesis of phosphorus in a nearshore marine sediment. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, 207–216 (1981).
Slomp, C. P., Van Der Gaast, S. J. & Van Raaphorst, W. Phosphorus binding by poorly crystalline iron oxides in North Sea sediments. Mar. Chem. 52, 55–73 (1996).
Schenau, S. J. & De Lange, G. J. A novel chemical method to quantify fish debris in marine sediments. Limnol. Oceanogr. 45, 963–971 (2000).
Ruttenberg, K. C. Development of a sequential extraction method for different forms of phosphorus in marine sediments. Limnol. Oceanogr. 37, 1460–1482 (1992).
Egger, M., Jilbert, T., Behrends, T., Rivard, C. & Slomp, C. P. Vivianite is a major sink for phosphorus in methanogenic coastal surface sediments. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 169, 217–235 (2015).
Cappellen, P. V. & Ingall, E. D. Redox stabilization of the atmosphere and oceans by phosphorus-limited marine productivity. Science 271, 493–496 (1996).
Algeo, T. J. & Ingall, E. Sedimentary Corg:P ratios, paleocean ventilation, and Phanerozoic atmospheric pO2. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 256, 130–155 (2007).
Harland, W. The Geology of Svalbard (Geological Society, 1997).
Blomeier, D., Dustira, A. M., Forke, H. & Scheibner, C. Facies analysis and depositional environments of a storm-dominated, temperate to cold, mixed siliceous–carbonate ramp: the Permian Kapp Starostin Formation in NE Svalbard. Nor. J. Geol. 93, 75–93 (2013).
Zuchuat, V. et al. A new high-resolution stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental record spanning the end-Permian mass extinction and its aftermath in central Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 554, 109732 (2020).
Poulton, S. W. & Canfield, D. E. Development of a sequential extraction procedure for iron: implications for iron partitioning in continentally derived particulates. Chem. Geol. 214, 209–221 (2005).
Algeo, T. & Tribovillard, N. Environmental analysis of paleoceanographic systems based on molybdenum–uranium covariation. Chem. Geol. 268, 211–225 (2009).
Raiswell, R. & Canfield, D. E. Sources of iron for pyrite formation in marine sediments. Am. J. Sci. 298, 219–245 (1998).
Poulton, S. W. & Raiswell, R. The low-temperature geochemical cycle of iron: from continental fluxes to marine sediment deposition. Am. J. Sci. 302, 774–805 (2002).
Poulton, S. W. & Canfield, D. E. Ferruginous conditions: a dominant feature of the ocean through Earth’s history. Elements 7, 107–112 (2011).
Lyons, T. W. & Severmann, S. A critical look at iron paleoredox proxies: new insights from modern euxinic marine basins. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, 5698–5722 (2006).
Poulton, S. W., Fralick, P. W. & Canfield, D. E. Spatial variability in oceanic redox structure 1.8 billion years ago. Nat. Geosci. 3, 486–490 (2010).
Doyle, K. A., Poulton, S. W., Newton, R. J., Podkovyrov, V. N. & Bekker, A. Shallow water anoxia in the Mesoproterozoic ocean: evidence from the Bashkir Meganticlinorium, Southern Urals. Precambrian Res. 317, 196–210 (2018).
Kendall, B. et al. Pervasive oxygenation along late Archaean ocean margins. Nat. Geosci. 3, 647–652 (2010).
Chafetz, H. S. & Reid, A. Syndepositional shallow-water precipitation of glauconitic minerals. Sediment. Geol. 136, 29–42 (2000).
Peters, S. E. & Gaines, R. R. Formation of the ‘Great Unconformity’ as a trigger for the Cambrian explosion. Nature 484, 363–366 (2012).
Manwell, C. Oxygen equilibrium of brachiopod Lingula hemerythrin. Science 132, 550–551 (1960).
Peng, Y., Shi, G. R., Gao, Y., He, W. & Shen, S. How and why did the Lingulidae (Brachiopoda) not only survive the end-Permian mass extinction but also thrive in its aftermath? Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 252, 118–131 (2007).
Scott, C. & Lyons, T. W. Contrasting molybdenum cycling and isotopic properties in euxinic versus non-euxinic sediments and sedimentary rocks: refining the paleoproxies. Chem. Geol. 324-325, 19–27 (2012).
Lyons, T. W. Sulfur isotopic trends and pathways of iron sulfide formation in upper Holocene sediments of the anoxic Black Sea. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61, 3367–3382 (1997).
Shen, Y., Canfield, D. E. & Knoll, A. H. Middle proterozoic ocean chemistry: evidence from the McArthur Basin, Northern Australia. Am. J. Sci. 302, 81–109 (2002).
Borgnino, L., Avena, M. & De Pauli, C. Synthesis and characterization of Fe(III)-montmorillonites for phosphate adsorption. Colloids Surf. A 341, 46–52 (2009).
Foster, W. J., Danise, S. & Twitchett, R. J. A silicified Early Triassic marine assemblage from Svalbard. J. Syst. Palaeontol. 15, 851–877 (2017).
Barnosky, A. D. et al. Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere. Nature 486, 52–58 (2012).
Wedepohl, K. H. in Metals and Their Compounds in the Environment (ed. Merian, E.) 3–17 (Verlag Chemie, 1991).
Thompson, J. et al. Development of a modified SEDEX phosphorus speciation method for ancient rocks and modern iron-rich sediments. Chem. Geol. 524, 383–393 (2019).
Canfield, D. E., Raiswell, R., Westrich, J. T., Reaves, C. M. & Berner, R. A. The use of chromium reduction in the analysis of reduced inorganic sulfur in sediments and shales. Chem. Geol. 54, 149–155 (1986).
Acknowledgements
M.S. was funded by a DFG Research Fellowship (SCHO 1689/1–1). S.W.P. acknowledges support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. D.P.G.B. acknowledges funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/J01799X/1) as do P.B.W. and R.J.N. (NE/P013724/1). H.H.S. and S.P. acknowledge support from the Norwegian Research Council by Centres of Excellence funding to CEED (project number 223272), and Lundin Petroleum, Arctic Drilling AS and Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani for funding, drilling and support related to the Deltadalen core.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The study was designed by M.S., R.J.N., P.B.W. and S.W.P. Samples were collected by V.Z., A.R.N.S., H.H.S., S.P., P.B.W. and D.P.G.B. Palaeontological data acquisition was performed by W.J.F., M.S., P.B.W. and D.P.G.B. Geochemical analyses were performed by M.S., F.M. and R.J.N. M.S. and S.W.P. interpreted data. M.S. led the writing of the manuscript with contributions from all co-authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Peer review information Primary Handling Editor: James Super.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figs. 1–7; Tables 1–3; geological setting; lithostratigraphy and facies description; chronology; materials; data processing, statistics and visualization; methods; results and discussion.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schobben, M., Foster, W.J., Sleveland, A.R.N. et al. A nutrient control on marine anoxia during the end-Permian mass extinction. Nat. Geosci. 13, 640–646 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0622-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0622-1
This article is cited by
-
Pre-Cenozoic cyclostratigraphy and palaeoclimate responses to astronomical forcing
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2024)
-
Phosphorus cycle in focus
Nature Geoscience (2023)
-
Recurrent photic zone euxinia limited ocean oxygenation and animal evolution during the Ediacaran
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Mercury isotope evidence for marine photic zone euxinia across the end-Permian mass extinction
Communications Earth & Environment (2023)
-
Palaeobiogeographic analysis of late Permian marine invertebrates from the Arunachal Himalaya, NE India
Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments (2023)