Stable carbon isotope signature in mid-Panthalassa shallow-water carbonates across the Permo–Triassic boundary: evidence for ¹³C-depleted superocean

Two Permian/Triassic boundary sections in central Japan provide a rare window into environmental conditions within the Panthalassic Ocean, which encompassed more than half the Earth's surface at 252 Ma. Integration of petrographic, geochemical, and time series data provides new insights regarding the fluxes of major and trace components to the sediment as well as environmental conditions in both the deep and intermediate water masses at each study site. The Ubara section was located in a high-productivity peri-equatorial location, whereas the Gujo-Hachiman section was located in a moderate-productivity location at some distance from the paleoequator. An upward transition from gray organic-poor cherts to black siliceous mudstones at both sites occurred in conjunction with increased primary productivity, intensified euxinia within the oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ), and decimation of the radiolarian zooplankton community. Euxinia in the OMZ of the equatorial Panthalassic Ocean developed episodically for a ~ 200–250 kyr interval during the Late Permian, followed by an abrupt intensification and lateral expansion of the OMZ around the Permian–Triassic boundary. Throughout the study interval, bottom waters at both sites remained mostly suboxic, a finding that counters hypotheses of development of a “superanoxic” Permo-Triassic deep ocean as a consequence of stagnation of oceanic overturning circulation.

The Palaeozoic–Mesozoic transition is marked by distinct perturbations in the global carbon cycle resulting in a prominent negative carbon-isotope excursion at the Permian–Triassic (P–T) boundary, well known from a plethora of marine and continental sediments. Potential causes for this negative δ¹³C trend (and their links to the latest Permian mass extinction) have been intensively debated in the literature. In order to draw conclusions regarding causation, a general δ¹³C curve was defined after consideration of all available datasets and with due reference to the biostratigraphic background. The most important features of the P–T carbon-isotope trend are the following: the 4–7‰ δ¹³C decline (lasting ∼500,000 years) is gradual and began in the Changhsingian at the stratigraphic level of the C. bachmanni Zone. The decreasing trend is interrupted by a short-term positive event that starts at about the latest Permian low-latitude marine main extinction event horizon (=EH), indicating that the extinction itself cannot have caused the negative carbon-isotope excursion. After this short-term positive excursion, the δ¹³C decline continues to a first minimum at about the P–T boundary. A subsequent slight increase is followed by a second (occasionally two-peaked) minimum in the lower (and middle) I. isarcica Zone. The negative carbon-isotope excursion was most likely a consequence of a combination of different causes that may include: (1) direct and indirect effects of the Siberian Trap and contemporaneous volcanism and (2) anoxic deep waters occasionally reaching very shallow sea levels. A sudden release of isotopically light methane from oceanic sediment piles or permafrost soils as a source for the negative carbon-isotope trend is questionable at least for the time span a little below the EH and somewhat above the P–T boundary.

A study of latest Permian and Early Triassic multielement conodonts identifies eight steps in their evolutionary history during an interval when Earth's biosphere was highly stressed. These steps are: 1) gradual decline of families and genera through the Changhsingian (up to the late Griesbachian); 2) conodont biofacies change and extinction of Tethyan endemic species close to the Permian–Triassic Boundary (PTB); 3) faunal turnover with extinction and origination in the late Griesbachian; 4) initial radiation in gondolellids and diversification in apparatuses during the Dienerian; 5) explosive radiation in the early–middle Smithian; 6) major extinction in the late Smithian; 7) major radiation early in the Spathian; 8) gradual turnover and decline in the late Spathian through early Anisian. Conodontophorids were reduced from five families at the beginning of the Changhsingian to three by the PTB, and to two late in the Griesbachian. From the Changhsingian to the late Griesbachian, there was a single multielement apparatus represented in the Gondolellidae, whereas by the Olenekian there were at least twelve. Given absolute age constraints, the conodont recovery in the aftermath of the PTB was extraordinary. Conodont evolution during the Dienerian remains obscure but was very significant in terms of changes in multielement apparatuses. In spite of Induan extinctions, generic diversity generally increased from the PTB up to the late Smithian. In terms of species, genera, and multielement apparatuses, the acme of Triassic conodonts was in the middle Smithian, and the biggest extinction was in the late Smithian. After this extinction, generic and apparatus diversity quickly returned to high levels, marking a significant Spathian recovery. Gradual decline characterized the late Spathian and persisted into the early Anisian. A synthetic summary of the temporal distribution and proposed relationships amongst all known Lower Triassic conodonts provide an improved foundation for biostratigraphic and biochronologic studies. Extinction and radiation trends correlate well with sea-level changes and sequence boundaries: faunal turnovers correspond to lowstands in the late Griesbachian, late Smithian, and late Spathian, and radiations correspond to transgressions in the early Griesbachian, early Smithian, and early Spathian. The trends also correlate with perturbations in the carbon cycle, with Lower Triassic δ¹³C minima corresponding to extinction and faunal turnover, and positive values generally occurring during radiations. However, Middle Triassic recovery of marine benthos follows a positive maxima and an overall decline in conodont diversity. New taxa Borinella chowadensis, B. megacuspa, Neogondolella griesbachensis, and N. mongeri are described.