Permian-Triassic Boundary

Summaries
Synchrony and Casual Relations Between Permian-Triassic Boundary Crises and Siberian Flood Volcanism" by Paul R. Renne, Zhang Zichao, Mark A. Richards, Michael T. Black, Ashish R. Basu

The paper focuses on the mass extinction that took place at the Permian-Triassic (P-T) boundary, as the greatest bio-crisis on Earth, whereby almost 90% of the marine species and 70% of terrestrial species were eliminated. This paper regards the Siberian traps, the most significant "continental flood volcanism," and this is perceived as the primary cause of the crisis. The paper investigates the Siberian traps inception age and compares it to the P-T boundary age of the Shangsi and the Meishan sections through critical value tests. The test determines
Experts of the mass extinction that took place at the end of the Permian suggest that the timing and causes of the happening are yet to be found as well as the fact that the Siberian traps would be linked with this event. The investigation carried out looked at the sedimentological and ichnology study of the P-T boundary in Spitsbergen that happens are situated in the Boreal Ocean margins and a study of the geochemical analysis in the western Tethys equatorial sections, specifically in the shallow waters. Three locations where evaluated: Kapp Starostin, Kapp Wijk and Sveltihel, which had very similar facies development. The data found, showed that the anoxic conditions affected the Boreal Ocean in the same time period as the P-T crisis. Evidence showed that the Mazzin sea was between anoxic and dysoxic and in the peritidal fringing was oxygenated. Finally, sedimentological and paleobotanical findings demonstrated the presence of warming and "cold-loving plants" however temperatures in oceanic waters rarely cause extinction, as temperatures have to be as high as 30°C. Although, what could have happened was an increase in oxygen intake as temperatures rose, which is an issue in oxygen-deficient waters which was the case (Wignall and Twitchett
One that is considered a hot topic is the movement of the continental plates. This is the movement of the north-south plates moving towards each other, causing an alteration in ocean currents and a change in climates. If this was the case, it would contradict any other potential causes because this would eliminate any changes in the carbon cycle, oxygenation; however, temperatures could potentially have changed. The only issue with the continental plate movement is that the Pangea was already in place before the estimated time of the mass extinction occurrence ("Permian Extinction"). To conclude, a better way to look at the mass extinction and what caused it, is definitely a combination of all aspects, leading to the extinction of the species. It can be looked at as a massive