Carbonate associated sulfate (CAS) δ³⁴S heterogeneity across the End-Permian Mass Extinction in South China
Abstract
The dynamics of the marine sulfur cycle across the End-Permian Mass Extinction (EPME) have been obscured by disagreement between sulfur isotopic records from different archives. Here, we attempt to resolve this disagreement with new measurements of carbonate associated sulfate (CAS) δ³⁴S (i.e., δ³⁴S_(CAS)) from three Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) sections in South China. We observe substantial δ³⁴S_(CAS) variation within single hand samples, with most samples having a δ³⁴S_(CAS) range exceeding 5‰ and some reaching ∼20‰. We also find evidence for mixing between low CAS abundance, high δ³⁴S_(CAS) and high CAS abundance, low δ³⁴S_(CAS) phases. A simple model of reduced sulfur oxidation and incorporation as CAS suggests that sedimentary redox oscillations may plausibly explain the δ³⁴S_(CAS) heterogeneity within many EPME carbonates; rapid variation in the δ³⁴S of the marine SO₄²⁻ reservoir is not necessary. Additional work to examine how synchronous changes in organic carbon fluxes, sedimentation rates, or other parameters that impact sediment redox and sulfur diagenesis is needed to evaluate the environmental implications of the δ³⁴S_(CAS) heterogeneity.
Additional Information
© 2021 Elsevier. Received 1 April 2021, Revised 30 July 2021, Accepted 13 August 2021, Available online 7 September 2021. We thank Nathan Dalleska, Jared Marske, and Grace Ames for analytical assistance and Sam Bowring for providing the Penglaitan samples. We also thank Stefano Bernasconi, editor Louis Derry, and an anonymous reviewer for providing thoughtful feedback that allowed us to substantially improve this manuscript. This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants OCE-1559215, OCE-1737404, OCE-1450528, and MGG-1834492; NASA prime grant NNN12AA01C; Change Happens Foundation; and Grantham Foundation awards to JFA. DLJ thanks the NSF for GRFP support. ML and YS were supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41721002). CRediT authorship contribution statement. Daniel L. Johnson: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft. Theodore M. Present: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing. Menghan Li: Conceptualization, Methodology. Yanan Shen: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Jess F. Adkins: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - 1-s2.0-S0012821X21004271-mmc1.doc
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Carbonate associated sulfate (CAS) δ34S heterogeneity across the End-Permian Mass Extinction in South China
- Eprint ID
- 110771
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210908-171123644
- OCE-1559215
- NSF
- OCE-1737404
- NSF
- OCE-1450528
- NSF
- MGG-1834492
- NSF
- NNN12AA01C
- NASA
- Change Happens Foundation
- Grantham Foundation
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
- 41721002
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Created
-
2021-09-08Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-09-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences