Changes in carbon dioxide during an oceanic anoxic event linked to intrusion into Gondwana coals

The marine sedimentary record exhibits evidence for episodes of enhanced organic carbon burial known as 'oceanic anoxic events' (OAEs)(1,2). They are characterized by carbon-isotope excursions in marine(3) and terrestrial(4) reservoirs and mass extinction of marine faunas(5). Causal mechanisms for the enhancement of organic carbon burial during OAEs are still debated(6,7), but it is thought that such events should draw down significant quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide(7). In the case of the Toarcian OAE (similar to 183 million years ago), a short-lived negative carbon-isotope excursion in oceanic and terrestrial reservoirs has been interpreted to indicate raised atmospheric carbon dioxide(4) caused by oxidation of methane catastrophically released from either marine gas hydrates(4) or magma-intruded organic-rich rocks(8). Here we test these two leading hypotheses(4,8) for a negative carbon isotopic excursion marking the initiation of the Toarcian OAE using a high-resolution atmospheric carbon dioxide record obtained from fossil leaf stomatal frequency(9,10). We find that coincident with the negative carbon-isotope excursion carbon dioxide is first drawn down by 350 +/- 100 p. p. m. v. and then abruptly elevated by 1,200 6 400 p. p. m. v, and infer a global cooling and greenhouse warming of 2.5 +/- 0.1 degrees C and 6.5 +/- 1 degrees C, respectively. The pattern and magnitude of carbon dioxide change are difficult to reconcile with catastrophic input of isotopically light methane from hydrates(5) as the cause of the negative isotopic signal. Our carbon dioxide record better supports a magma-intrusion hypothesis(8), and suggests that injection of isotopically light carbon from the release of thermogenic methane occurred owing to the intrusion of Gondwana coals by Toarcian-aged Karoo-Ferrar dolerites.