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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andren AW, Harriss RC (1975) Observations on the association between mercury and organic matter dissolved in natural waters. Geochimica Cosmochim Acta 39:1253–1258
Baines PG, Jones MT, Sparks RSJ (2008) The variation of large-magnitude volcanic ash cloud formation with source latitude. J Geophys Res 113:D21204. doi:10.1029/2007jd009568
Beauchamp B, Henderson CM, Grasby SE, Gates LT, Beatty TW, Utting J, James NP (2009) Late Permian sedimentation in the Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic: the Lindström and Black Stripe formations. Can Soc Petroleum Geol Bull 57:167–191
Beerling DJ, Harfoot M, Lomax B, Pyle JA (2007) The stability of the stratospheric ozone layer during the end-Permian eruption of the Siberian Traps. Phil Trans R Soc Lond 365:1843–1866
Camargo JA (2002) Contribution of Spanish-American silver mines (1570–1820) to the present high mercury concentrations in the global environment: a review. Chemosphere 48:51–57
Campbell IH, Czamanske GK, Fedorenko VA, Hill RI, Stepanov V (1992) Synchronism of the Siberian Traps and the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Science 258:1760–1763
Cranston RE, Buckley DE (1972) Mercury pathways in a river and estuary. Environ Sci Technol 6:274–278
Embry AF, Beauchamp B (2008) Sverdrup basin. In: Miall AD (ed) In the Sedimentary Basins of Unites States and Canada. Elsevier, 451–472
Erwin DH (2006) Extinction: how life on Earth nearly ended 250Â million years ago. Princeton University Press, New Jersey
Gehrke GE, Blum JD, Meyers PA (2009) The geochemical behavior and isotopic composition of Hg in a mid-Pleistocene western Mediterranean sapropel. Geochimica Cosmochim Acta 73:1651–1665
Grasby SE, Beauchamp B (2008) Intrabasin variability of the carbon-isotope record across the Permian-Triassic transition, Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada. Chem Geol 253:141–150
Grasby SE, Beauchamp B (2009) Latest Permian to Early Triassic basin-to-shelf anoxia in the Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada. Chem Geol 264:232–246
Grasby SE, Sanei H, Beauchamp B (2011) Catastrophic dispersion of coal fly-ash into oceans during the latest Permian extinction. Nat Geosci 4:104–107
Grasby SE, Sanei H, Beauchamp B, Chen Z (2013) Mercury deposition through the Permo–Triassic Biotic Crisis. Geol. 351:209–216
Kidder DL, Worsley TR (2010) Phanerozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), HEATT (Haline Euxinic Acidic Thermal Transgression) episodes, and mass extinctions. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 295:162–191
Kniess J, Grasby SE, Beauchamp B, Schubert C (2013) Water mass denitrification during the latest Permian extinction in the Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada. Geology 41:167–170
Korte C, Kozur HW (2010) Carbon isotope stratigraphy across the Permian -Triassic boundary: a review. J Asian Earth Sci 39:215–235
Korte C, Pande P, Kalia P, Kozur HW, Joachimski MM, Oberhänsli H (2010) Massive volcanism at the Permian-Triassic boundary and its impact on the isotopic composition of the ocean and atmosphere. J Asian Earth Sci 37:293–311
Lindberg SE, Andrenson AW, Harrisson RC (1975) Geochemistry of mercury in the estuarine environment. In: Cronin EL (ed) Estuarine research. Chemistry, biology and the estuarine system, vol 1. Academic Press, New York
Outridge PM, Sanei H, Stern GA, Hamilton PB, Goodarzi F (2007) Evidence for control of mercury accumulation in sediments by variations of aquatic primary productivity in Canadian High Arctic lakes. Environ Sci Technol 41:5259–5265
Outridge PM, Rausch N, Percival JB, Shotyk W, McNeely R (2011) Comparison of mercury and zinc profiles in peat and lake sediment archives with historical changes in emissions from the Flin Flon metal smelter, Manitoba, Canada. Sci Total Environ 3:548–563
Pirrone N, Cinnirella S, Feng X, Finkelman RB, Friedli HR, Leaner J, Mason R, Mukherjee AB, Stracher GB, Streets DG, Telmer K (2010) Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources. Atmospheric Chem Phys Discuss 10:4719–4752
Proemse BC, Grasby SE, Wieser ME, Mayer B, Beauchamp B (2013) Molybdenum isotope evidence for oxic marine conditions during the Latest Permian Extinction. Geology 41:967–970
Pyle DM, Mather TA (2003) The importance of volcanic emissions for the global atmospheric mercury cycle. Atmos Environ 37:5115–5124
Rampino MR, Stothers RB (1988) Flood Basalt Volcanism during the past 250 million years. Science 241:663–668
Reichow MK, Pringle MS, Al’Mukhamedov AI, Allen MB, Andreichev VL, Buslov MM, Davies CE, Fedoseev GS, Fitton JG, Inger S, Medvedev AYa, Mitchell C, Puchkov VN, Safonova IYu, Scott RA, Saunders AD (2009) The timing and extent of the eruption of the Siberian Traps large igneous province: implications for the end-Permian environmental crisis. Earth Planet Sci Lett 277:9–20
Retallack GJ, Jahren AH (2008) Methane release from igneous intrusion of coal during Late Permian extinction events. J Geol 116:1–20
Sahney S, Benton MJ (2008) Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time (PDF). Proc R Soc: Biol 275(1636):759–765. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1370. PMC 2596898. PMID 18198148
Sanei H, Goodarzi F, Outridge PM (2010) Spatial distribution of mercury and other trace elements in recent lake sediments from central Alberta, Canada: an assessment of the regional impact of coal-fired power plants. Int J Coal Geol 82:105–115
Sanei H, Grasby SE, Beauchamp B (2012) Latest Permian mercury anomalies. Geology 40:63–66
Saunders AD, Reichow MK (2009) The Siberian Traps and the End-Permian mass extinction: a critical review. Chin Sci Bull 54:20–37
Schroeder WH, Munthe J (1998) Atmospheric mercury–an overview. Atmospheric Environ 32:809–822
Shen S, Crowley JL, Wang Y, Bowring SA, Erwin DH, Sadler PM, Cao C, Rothman DH, Henderson CM, Ramezani J, Zhang H, Shen Y, Wang X, Wang W, Mu L, Li W, Tang Y, Liu X, Liu L, Zeng Y, Jiang Y, Jin Y (2011) Calibrating the end-permian mass extinction. Science 334(6061):1367–1372
Svensen H, Planke S, Polozov AG, Schmidbauer N, Corfu F, Podladchikov YY, Jamtveit B (2009) Siberian gas venting and the end-Permian environmental crisis. Earth Planet Sci Lett 277:490–500
Tewalt ST, Belkin HE, SanFilipo JR, Merrill MD, Palmer CA, Warwick PD, Karlsen AW, Finkelman RB, Park AJ (2010) Chemical analyses in the World Coal Quality Inventory. Open-File Report 2010–1196, in U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S.G.S., ed., Volume 1
Thordarson T, Rampino M, Keszthelyi LP, Self S (2009) In: Chapman MG, Keszthelyi LP (eds) Preservation of random megascale events on Mars and Earth: influence on geologic history. Geological Society of America Special Paper 453, p 37–53
Wignall PB (2001) Large igneous provinces and mass extinctions. Earth-Science Rev 53:1–33
Wignall PB, Hallam A (1992) Anoxia as a cause of the Permian/Triassic mass extinction; facies evidence from northern Italy and the Western United States. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 93:21–46
Yudovich YE, Ketris MP (2005) Mercury in coal: a review part 2. Coal use and environmental problems. Int J Coal Geol 62(3):135–165
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9541-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9540-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9541-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)