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Contaminants in Marine Sedimentary Deposits from Coal Fly Ash During the Latest Permian Extinction

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Book cover Environmental Contaminants

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 18))

Abstract

The Latest Permian Extinction (LPE) event, the greatest mass extinction in Earth history, was marked by major explosive volcanic eruptions through thick layers of coal and carbonaceous deposits at the time. This resulted in significant dispersion of volcanic-derived ash and other particulate and gaseous hazardous substances, which may have caused extensive contamination of the global marine ecosystem.

A continuous geological sedimentary record from the Canadian High Arctic revealed evidence of unprecedented mercury loading that may have contributed to the extinction. Mercury loading is attributed to combined effects of volcanic emissions in association with volcanic combustion of surface and subsurface coal and carbonaceous deposits.

Mercury influx exceeded the scavenging capacity of organic matter (OM) in the Late Permian ocean, leading to major disruption of mercury drawdown processes mediated by organic carbon. This resulted in buildup of dissolved mercury to maximum levels at the LPE boundary. The transition of the Latest Permian ocean to euxinic conditions allowed sulphide scavenging of mercury from ocean water, beginning a self-mitigation process that led to gradual recovery from toxic marine conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Canada, 3303-33rd Street NW, T2L2A7, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Hamed Sanei & Stephen E. Grasby

  2. Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W., T2N 1N4, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Hamed Sanei, Stephen E. Grasby & Benoit Beauchamp

  3. Center for Energy Technologies, AU-Herning, Aarhus University, Birk Centerpark 15, DK-7400, Herning, Denmark

    Hamed Sanei

Authors
  1. Hamed Sanei
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  2. Stephen E. Grasby
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  3. Benoit Beauchamp
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Correspondence to Hamed Sanei .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Jules M. Blais

  2. US Geological Survey, Carson City, Nevada, USA

    Michael R. Rosen

  3. Paleoecological Environmental Assessment & Research Lab. (PEARL), Queen's University Dept. Biology, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    John P. Smol

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Sanei, H., Grasby, S., Beauchamp, B. (2015). Contaminants in Marine Sedimentary Deposits from Coal Fly Ash During the Latest Permian Extinction. In: Blais, J., Rosen, M., Smol, J. (eds) Environmental Contaminants. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9541-8_5

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