Title: Intensified continental chemical weathering and carbon-cycle perturbations linked to volcanism during the Triassic–Jurassic transition
Authors: Jun Shen,* Runsheng Yin, Shuang Zhang, Thomas J. Algeo, David J. Bottjer, Jianxin Yu*, Guozhen Xu, Donald Penman, Yongdong Wang*, Liqin Li, Xiao Shi, Noah J. Planavsky, Qinglai Feng & Shucheng Xie
Source: Nature Communications ,volume 13, article number: 299 (2022)
Published: 13 January 2022
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-27965-x
Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-27965-x
Abstract:
Direct evidence of intense chemical weathering induced by volcanism is rare in sedimentary successions. Here, we undertake a multiproxy analysis (including organic carbon isotopes, mercury (Hg) concentrations and isotopes, chemical index of alteration (CIA), and clay minerals) of two well-dated Triassic–Jurassic (T–J) boundary sections representing high- and low/middle-paleolatitude sites. Both sections show increasing CIA in association with Hg peaks near the T–J boundary. We interpret these results as reflecting volcanism-induced intensification of continental chemical weathering, which is also supported by negative mass-independent fractionation (MIF) of odd Hg isotopes. The interval of enhanced chemical weathering persisted for ~2 million years, which is consistent with carbon-cycle model results of the time needed to drawdown excess atmospheric CO2 following a carbon release event. Lastly, these data also demonstrate that high-latitude continental settings are more sensitive than low/middle-latitude sites to shifts in weathering intensity during climatic warming events.
