Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 334, Issue 6061, Pages 1367-1372Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1213454
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Basic Research Program of China [2006CB806400, 2011CB808905]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)/State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China (SAFEA)
- CAS [KZCX2-YW-Q08-4]
- basic research program of Jiangsu Province for the Nanjing Group [BK2010022]
- U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astrobiology Institute
- NASA [NNX09AM88G, NNA08CN84A]
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- NASA [NNX09AM88G, 112310] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth history. To better constrain the timing, and ultimately the causes of this event, we collected a suite of geochronologic, isotopic, and biostratigraphic data on several well-preserved sedimentary sections in South China. High-precision U-Pb dating reveals that the extinction peak occurred just before 252.28 +/- 0.08 million years ago, after a decline of 2 per mil (parts per thousand) in delta(13)C over 90,000 years, and coincided with a delta(13)C excursion of -5 parts per thousand that is estimated to have lasted <= 20,000 years. The extinction interval was less than 200,000 years and synchronous in marine and terrestrial realms; associated charcoal-rich and soot-bearing layers indicate widespread wildfires on land. A massive release of thermogenic carbon dioxide and/or methane may have caused the catastrophic extinction.
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