Behavior of lophophorates during the end-Permian mass extinction and recovery

The end-Permian mass extinction devastated most marine communities and the recovery was a protracted event lasting several million years into the Early Triassic. Environmental and biological processes undoubtedly controlled patterns of recovery for marine invertebrates in the aftermath of the extinction, but are often difficult to single-out. The global diversity and distribution of marine lophophorates during the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction indicates that stenolaemate bryozoans, rhynchonelliform brachiopods, and lingulid brachiopods displayed distinct recovery patterns.Bryozoans were the most susceptible of the lophophorates, experiencing relatively high rates of extinction at the end of the Permian, and becoming restricted to the Boreal region during the Early Triassic. The recovery of bryozoans was also delayed until the Late Triassic and characterized by very low diversity and abundance. Following the final disappearance of Permian rhynchonelliform brachiopod survivors, Early Triassic rhynchonelliform brachiopod abundance remained suppressed despite a successful re-diversification and a global distribution, suggesting a decoupling between global taxonomic and ecological processes likely driven by lingering environmental stress.In contrast with bryozoans and rhynchonelliforms, lingulid brachiopods rebounded rapidly, colonizing shallow marine settings left vacant by the extinction. Lingulid dominance, characterized by low diversity but high numerical abundance, was short-lived and they were once again displaced back into marginal settings as environmental stress changed through the marine recovery. The presence in lingulid brachiopods of the respiratory pigment hemerythrin, known to increase the efficacy of oxygen storage and transport, when coupled with other morphological and physiological adaptations, may have given lingulids a survival advantage in environmentally stressed Early Triassic settings.     

Rapid vertebrate recuperation in the Karoo Basin of South Africa following the End-Permian extinction

The mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian Period approximately 251 Mya is widely accepted as the most devastating extinction event in Earth’s history. An estimated 75–90% of global diversity from both marine and terrestrial realms disappeared synchronously within at most one million and perhaps as little as 100,000 years. To date, most research has focused on the marine record and it is only recently that a few fully preserved terrestrial Permo-Triassic boundary sequences have been discovered. The main Karoo Basin of South Africa hosts several well-preserved non-marine Permo-Triassic boundary sequences that have been the focus of intensive research into the nature of the extinction and its possible causes. This study uses sedimentological and biostratigraphic data from boundary sequences near Bethulie in the southern Karoo Basin to make assumptions about the rates and timing of recovery of the terrestrial fauna in this portion of southern Gondwana after the extinction event. The biostratigraphic data gathered from 277 in situ vertebrate fossils allows us to define more accurately the temporal ranges of several taxa. These data also confirm a more precise extinction rate in this part of the basin of 54% of latest Permian vertebrate taxa, followed by the onset of a relatively rapid recovery, within an estimated 40–50 thousand years (based on the calculation of floodplain aggradation rates and compaction ratios) that included the origination of at least 12 new vertebrate taxa from amongst the survivors.     

重庆老龙洞二叠系-三叠系界线地层的海平面下降事件

老龙洞的二叠系-三叠系界线地层剖面许多学者做过研究,关于其海平面变化问题的争论一直没有解决。本文的研究首次在该剖面上发现了明显的侵蚀面,说明曾经有海平面下降事件。对沉积环境的解释也有新的认识。该剖面在长兴期钙质海绵灰岩之上沉积了一套开阔台地相的沉积,其上是1.4m 厚的局限台地相沉积,具有斑点状构造。此层顶部出现一个波状起伏的侵蚀面。侵蚀面上下的岩性不同。此面之上是0.8m 厚的浅水的局限台地相沉积,具有树枝状的构造和外貌。此层顶面是一个更加明显的侵蚀面,起伏高差达到0.3m 以上。侵蚀面上下的岩性截然不同,以及其上岩石层理与侵蚀面的斜交关系,以及侵蚀面的形态把侵蚀面同缝合线区分开来。这个侵蚀面代表一次显著海平面下降事件之后的一次较长时间的出露和风化剥蚀。侵蚀面之上是透镜状分布的灰色的层状的小腹足类的颗粒岩,再上是一薄层灰黄色的泥粒岩,含丰富的小双壳类。此层以上是青灰色的薄板状的泥质灰泥岩,舍丰富的0.3～3mm 大小的、内部重结晶的同生角砾。     

江西修水二叠纪·三叠纪界线地层海平面下降的岩石学证据

在江西修水四都镇东岭村发现了一个连续的、出露完好的二叠纪-三叠纪界线地层剖面。在剖面中有一段厚约2.1m 的地层具有指示海平面下降的岩石组构。这段地层的底部为红色的碳酸盐颗粒岩。红色是颗粒表面的红色铁染,成分为褐铁矿,是出露地表风化形成的。这层红色颗粒岩之上有约2.0 m 的去白云石化灰岩,其中保留了原来粉晶白云石的晶形。去白云石化作用是白云岩受淡水影响而发生的,指示海平面下降事件。这段地层之上是厚1m 的颗粒岩和灰泥岩,代表浅水潮下环境。其上是二叠系-三叠系的界线。这段地层之下的地层中生物丰富多样,并且有复(蜒)、钙藻等大绝灭前的生物。这段地层及其以上的地层中生物种类很少,(蜓)、钙藻等已经消失,表明集群绝灭事件开始于这段地层之下,生物大绝灭的发生与海平面下降事件的发生是基本同时的。由此认为,可能是海平面下降有关的环境剧变事件引发了二叠纪末的集群绝灭事件。     

The prelude of the end-Permian mass extinction predates a postulated bolide impact

The mass extinction at the Permian–Triassic Boundary (PTB) is said to have been abrupt and probably caused by an extraterrestrial impact. However, evidence from the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the base of the Induan at Meishan, China, shows that the biotic crisis began prior to the level, in beds 25 and 26 at which the postulated impact event occurred. Evidence of such an earlier biotic crisis occurs in other sections in South China, and in central and western Tethyan regions. This event is characterized by the extinction of a range of faunas, including corals, deep-water radiolarians, most fusulinids and pseudotirolitid ammonoids, and many Permian brachiopods. In all sections, this extinction level is usually a few decimeters to meters below that of the main mass extinction in the event beds (25 and 26) at Meishan, and their correlatives elsewhere. This earlier extinction event happened before the postulated bolide impact at the level of beds 25 and 26, and constrains interpretation of the mechanisms that brought about this greatest mass extinction. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.