Editing Permian–Triassic extinction event (section)

{{Short description|Earth's most severe extinction event}}
{{Redirect|Great Dying|3=Great Dying (disambiguation)}}
{{annotated image/Extinction|caption=Plot of extinction intensity (percentage of marine [[genus|genera]] that are present in each interval of time but do not exist in the following interval) vs time in the past.<ref name=Rohde-Muller2005 /> Geological periods are annotated (by abbreviation and colour) above. The Permian–Triassic extinction event is the most significant event for marine genera, with just over 50% (according to this source) perishing. ''([[:File:Extinction intensity.svg|source and image info]])''}}
[[File:Permian-Triassic boundary at Frazer Beach, NSW.jpg|thumb|Permian–Triassic boundary at Frazer Beach in [[New South Wales]], with the End Permian extinction event located just above the coal layer<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McLoughlin |first1=Steven |title=Age and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Frazer Beach Member – A New Lithostratigraphic Unit Overlying the End-Permian Extinction Horizon in the Sydney Basin, Australia |journal=[[Frontiers in Earth Science]] |date=8 January 2021 |volume=8 |issue=600976 |page=605 |doi=10.3389/feart.2020.600976 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021FrEaS...8..605M }}</ref>]]

The '''Permian–Triassic extinction event''' (also known as the '''P–T extinction event''', the '''Late Permian extinction event''',<ref name="LysoclineShoaling" /> the '''Latest Permian extinction event''',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jouault |first1=Corentin |last2=Nel |first2=André |last3=Perrichot |first3=Vincent |last4=Legendre |first4=Frédéric |last5=Condamine |first5=Fabien L. |date=6 December 2011 |title=Multiple drivers and lineage-specific insect extinctions during the Permo-Triassic |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=7512 |doi=10.1038/s41467-022-35284-4 |pmc=9726944 |pmid=36473862}}</ref> the '''End-Permian extinction event''',<ref name="NatureThroughTime" /><ref>{{cite news |date=23 November 2011 |title="Great Dying" lasted 200,000&nbsp;years |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111121-great-dying-permian-mass-extinction-science/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124235510/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111121-great-dying-permian-mass-extinction-science/ |archive-date=November 24, 2011 |access-date=1 April 2014 |newspaper=[[National Geographic]]}}</ref> and colloquially as the '''Great Dying''',<ref name="NYT-20170216">{{cite news |last=St. Fleur |first=Nicholas |date=16 February 2017 |title=After Earth's worst mass extinction, life rebounded rapidly, fossils suggest |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/science/great-dying-permian-extinction-fossils.html |access-date=17 February 2017 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Algeo |first=Thomas J. |date=5 February 2012 |title=The P–T Extinction was a Slow Death |url=https://www.astrobio.net/origin-and-evolution-of-life/the-p-t-extinction-was-a-slow-death/ |url-status=usurped |journal=Astrobiology Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308140345/https://www.astrobio.net/origin-and-evolution-of-life/the-p-t-extinction-was-a-slow-death/ |archive-date=2021-03-08}}</ref>) was an [[extinction event]] that occurred approximately 251.9 [[Million years ago|million years ago (mya)]], at the boundary between the [[Permian]] and [[Triassic]] geologic periods, and with them the [[Paleozoic]] and [[Mesozoic]] eras.<ref name="Jurikova2020" /> It is Earth's most severe known extinction event,<ref name="Erwin1990" /><ref name="ChenRichoz2019">{{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Yanlong |last2=Richoz |first2=Sylvain |last3=Krystyn |first3=Leopold |last4=Zhang |first4=Zhifei |date=August 2019 |title=Quantitative stratigraphic correlation of Tethyan conodonts across the Smithian-Spathian (Early Triassic) extinction event |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825217306414 |journal=[[Earth-Science Reviews]] |volume=195 |pages=37–51 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.03.004 |bibcode=2019ESRv..195...37C |s2cid=135139479 |access-date=28 October 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> with the [[extinction]] of 57% of [[Family (biology)|biological families]], 62% of [[genera]] and 81% of [[marine biology|marine]] species,<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Stanley |first=Steven M. |date=18 October 2016 |title=Estimates of the magnitudes of major marine mass extinctions in earth history |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |language=en |volume=113 |issue=42 |pages=E6325–E6334 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1613094113 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=5081622 |pmid=27698119 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113E6325S }}</ref><ref name="Benton">{{cite book |author=Benton, M.J. |author-link=Michael Benton |year=2005 |title=When Life Nearly Died: The greatest mass extinction of all time |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-28573-2}}</ref><ref name="BergstromDugatkin2012">{{cite book |author1=Bergstrom, Carl T. |author2=Dugatkin, Lee Alan |year=2012 |title=Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SeaEZwEACAAJ |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-92592-0 |page=515}}</ref> (previous estimates of 90–96% marine species extinction were due to  historical conflation with the [[End-Capitanian mass extinction event|end-Capitanian mass extinction]] which occurred 7–10 million years earlier<ref name=":2" />) and 70% of terrestrial [[vertebrate]] species.<ref name="SahneyBenton2008RecoveryFromProfoundExtinction">{{cite journal |author1=Sahney, S. |author2=Benton, M.J. |author-link2=Michael Benton |year=2008 |title=Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B]] |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.1370 |volume=275 |pages=759–765 |pmid=18198148 |issue=1636 |pmc=2596898}}</ref> It is also the greatest known mass extinction of [[insect]]s.<ref name="ConradLabandeira" /> It is the greatest of the "Big Five" mass extinctions of the [[Phanerozoic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=Charles R. |date=5 January 2023 |title=Forty years later: The status of the "Big Five" mass extinctions |journal=Cambridge Prisms: Extinction |volume=1 |pages=e5 |doi=10.1017/ext.2022.4 |s2cid=255710815 |doi-access=free |pmid=40078681 |pmc=11895713 }}</ref> There is evidence for one to three distinct pulses, or phases, of extinction.<ref name="SahneyBenton2008RecoveryFromProfoundExtinction"/><ref name="Jin2000">{{cite journal |title = Pattern of marine mass extinction near the Permian–Triassic boundary in south China |last1=Jin |first1=Y. G. |last2=Wang |first2=Y. |last3=Wang |first3=W. |last4=Shang |first4=Q. H. |last5=Cao |first5=C. Q. |last6=Erwin |first6=D. H. |date=21 July 2000 |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.289.5478.432 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=289 |issue=5478 |pages=432–436 |pmid=10903200 |doi=10.1126/science.289.5478.432 |bibcode=2000Sci...289..432J |access-date=5 March 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The scientific consensus is that the main cause of the extinction was the [[flood basalt]] volcanic eruptions that created the [[Siberian Traps]],<ref name=HighPrecisionGeochronology/><ref name=":1" /> which released [[sulfur dioxide]] and [[carbon dioxide]], resulting in [[euxinia]] (oxygen-starved, sulfurous oceans),<ref name="Hulse2022">{{cite journal |last1=Hulse |first1=D |last2=Lau |first2=K.V. |last3=Sebastiaan |first3=J.V. |last4=Arndt |first4=S |last5=Meyer |first5=K.M. |last6=Ridgwell |first6=A
|title = End-Permian marine extinction due to temperature-driven nutrient recycling and euxinia |journal=Nat Geosci |date=28 Oct 2021 |volume=14 |issue=11 |pages=862–867 |doi=10.1038/s41561-021-00829-7 |bibcode=2021NatGe..14..862H |hdl=2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/334194 |s2cid=240076553 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00829-7}}</ref><ref name=GlobalWarmingAndEPME/> elevated global temperatures,<ref name=WuEtAl2021NatureCommunications/><ref name=PaceMagnitudeNatureTerrestrialClimateChange/><ref name=ClimateWarming/>
and [[ocean acidification|acidified oceans]].<ref name=OceanAcidificaton/><ref name=CalciumIsotopeConstraints/><ref name=LysoclineShoaling/>
The level of atmospheric carbon dioxide rose from around 400 [[Parts-per notation|ppm]] to 2,500 ppm with approximately 3,900 to 12,000 gigatonnes of carbon being added to the ocean-atmosphere system during this period.<ref name=WuEtAl2021NatureCommunications/> 

Several other contributing factors have been proposed, including the emission of carbon dioxide from the burning of [[hydrocarbon|oil and coal]] deposits ignited by the eruptions;<ref name="InitialPulse" /><ref name="lava/coal fires">{{cite journal |year=2011 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1118675109 |pmid=22184229 |pmc=3252959 |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |author1=Darcy E. Ogdena |author2=Norman H. Sleep |name-list-style=amp |title=Explosive eruption of coal and basalt and the end-Permian mass extinction |bibcode = 2012PNAS..109...59O |volume=109 |issue=1 |pages=59–62|doi-access=free }}</ref>
emissions of [[methane]] from the gasification of [[methane clathrate]]s;<ref name="Berner2002" /> emissions of methane by novel [[methanogen]]ic microorganisms nourished by minerals dispersed in the eruptions;<ref name="KaihoAftabuzzamanJonesTian2020PulsedVolcano" /><ref name="Rothman2014" /><ref name="SaitohIsozaki2021" /> longer and more intense [[El Niño–Southern Oscillation|El&nbsp;Niño]] events;<ref name="Sun2024" /> and an extraterrestrial impact that created the [[Araguainha crater]] and caused seismic release of methane<ref name="Tohver2012" /><ref name="Tohver2013" /><ref name="Tohver2018" /> and the destruction of the ozone layer with increased exposure to solar radiation.<ref name="DyingInTheSun" /><ref name="BencaDuijnsteeLooy2018" /><ref name="EnvironmentalMutagenesis" />