A study finds that the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period was likely triggered by carbon dioxide from volcanic eruptions, not by a massive input of light carbon from methane beneath the oceans or from older buried organic deposits; the apparent massive spike in light carbon may have been caused by local sea level decline and the development of microbial mats that occurred prior to the mass extinction, possibly triggered by tectonic events at the onset of volcanic activity, according to the authors.
Article #19-17661: "Molecular and isotopic evidence reveals the end-Triassic carbon isotope excursion is not from massive exogenous light carbon," by Calum P. Fox, Xingqian Cui, et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Calum Fox, Curtin University, Perth, AUSTRALIA; e-mail: calum.fox@postgrad.curtin.edu.au
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences