在20世纪90年代,有学者认为峨眉山大火成岩省(Emeishan Large Igneous Province,ELIP)大规模火山活动与二叠-三叠系之交(Permian-Triassic Boundary,P-TB)的生物大灭绝事件在时间上有耦合关系,随后的40Ar/39Ar同位素测年结果也显示峨眉...在20世纪90年代,有学者认为峨眉山大火成岩省(Emeishan Large Igneous Province,ELIP)大规模火山活动与二叠-三叠系之交(Permian-Triassic Boundary,P-TB)的生物大灭绝事件在时间上有耦合关系,随后的40Ar/39Ar同位素测年结果也显示峨眉山大火成岩省是晚二叠世形成的。但是,近些年大量的SHRIMP U-Pb测年结果表明,ELIP大规模火山喷发约在～260Ma;因此有研究认为,ELIP火山活动与中二叠世瓜德卢普期末(end-Guadalupian)的生物灭绝事件在时间上联系更加紧密。至于P-T界线生物大灭绝,现在多数学者认为是,由于西伯利亚大火成岩省火山强烈活动释放大量气体和火山灰所造成环境变化引起的。最近,我们在ELIP东部的贵州盘县峨眉山玄武岩系剖面中发现顶部发育厚度达近百米的凝灰岩层,其LA-ICP-MSU-Pb法测年结果为251.0±1.0Ma,与浙江煤山剖面中二叠系-三叠系边界处黏土层或火山灰层的锆石U-Pb年龄接近。因此,峨眉山玄武岩喷发结束的时间应该在P-T边界,与西伯利亚大火成岩省的主体喷发时间一致。新的测年结果暗示了ELIP火山活动与地球历史上最大的一次生物灭绝事件(P-T边界)可能存在着成因联系。展开更多
Studies of two Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) sections on top of a Changhsingian reef in Ziyun, Guizhou Province, southwestern China indicate that the end-Permian mass extinction of reef ecosystems occurred in two st...Studies of two Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) sections on top of a Changhsingian reef in Ziyun, Guizhou Province, southwestern China indicate that the end-Permian mass extinction of reef ecosystems occurred in two steps. The first step is the extinction of all stenotropic organisms such as calcisponges and fusulinids in the latest Permian (in the Clarkina yini conodont zone). The biota after the first extinction is simple, comprising eurytropic organisms including microgastropods, ostracods, and some small burrowing organisms, or only algal mats. At the beginning of the Early Triassic (i.e. the beginning of the Hindeodus parvus zone), the environments became anoxic, and the microgastropod dominated biota or algal mats disappeared, which constituted the second episode of the mass extinction. The biota after the second extinction comprises small spherical microproblematica, some kinds of specialized organisms tolerant of anoxic or oxygen-poor conditions. As the environments became oxygenated, the specialized biota was replaced by a microgastropod-dominated simple biota. When the environmental conditions improved further, the simple biota was replaced by a diverse biota with normal-sized ammonoids, bivalves, and gastropods, representing restoration of normal oceanic condi- tions. Comparison with PTB sections in Dolomites, Italy and Meishan, Zhejiang Province shows that non-reef ecosystems had a similar first episode of mass extinction in the latest Permian. In the case that oceanic anoxia happened, non-reef ecosystems had a second extinction episode similar to that of reef ecosystems.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40472015)the State Key Laboratory of Modern Paleontology and Stratigraphy (Grant No. 053102)Key Laboratory for Minerals and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
文摘Studies of two Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) sections on top of a Changhsingian reef in Ziyun, Guizhou Province, southwestern China indicate that the end-Permian mass extinction of reef ecosystems occurred in two steps. The first step is the extinction of all stenotropic organisms such as calcisponges and fusulinids in the latest Permian (in the Clarkina yini conodont zone). The biota after the first extinction is simple, comprising eurytropic organisms including microgastropods, ostracods, and some small burrowing organisms, or only algal mats. At the beginning of the Early Triassic (i.e. the beginning of the Hindeodus parvus zone), the environments became anoxic, and the microgastropod dominated biota or algal mats disappeared, which constituted the second episode of the mass extinction. The biota after the second extinction comprises small spherical microproblematica, some kinds of specialized organisms tolerant of anoxic or oxygen-poor conditions. As the environments became oxygenated, the specialized biota was replaced by a microgastropod-dominated simple biota. When the environmental conditions improved further, the simple biota was replaced by a diverse biota with normal-sized ammonoids, bivalves, and gastropods, representing restoration of normal oceanic condi- tions. Comparison with PTB sections in Dolomites, Italy and Meishan, Zhejiang Province shows that non-reef ecosystems had a similar first episode of mass extinction in the latest Permian. In the case that oceanic anoxia happened, non-reef ecosystems had a second extinction episode similar to that of reef ecosystems.
