Timing of Carbon isotope excursions during the late Triassic and early Jurassic

Abstract:

The emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province during the late Triassic and early Jurassic is implicated in the end-Triassic mass extinction and is associated with dramatic increases in atmospheric pCO₂. Changes in the isotopic composition of CO₂ as recorded on land and in the ocean have been observed in many sections worldwide, but the timing and causes of the changes are debated. Recent high-resolution ash bed dating (Schaltegger et al., 2008; Schoene et al., 2010; Guex et al., 2012; Wotzlaw et al., 2014) from a continuous Rhaetian-Hettangian section near Levanto, Peru, provide an opportunity to understand the duration of these carbon cycle disruptions, and ammonite biostratigraphy allows comparison to other sections. We measured % organic carbon and % inorganic carbon along with δ¹³Corganic and δ¹³Ccarbonate at the section near Levanto. We find a series of δ¹³Corganic excursions that are similar to those found in other Triassic-Jurassic successions, both from the Tethyan (St. Audrie’s Bay, UK) and Panthalassic oceans (Kennecott Point, CAN), pointing to the global extent of these changes. At Levanto, we can identify a brief, initial positive carbon isotope excursion followed first by a sharp negative excursion that coincides with the last appearance of Triassic ammonites, and then a more extended positive carbon isotope excursion that extends into the initial Jurassic recovery. Using the ash bed dates from Levanto, we are able for the first time to estimate robustly the duration of each carbon isotope excursion across the Triassic-Jurassic interval. These estimates of durations aid in our understanding of timing and causes of carbon cycle perturbations associated with the emplacement of CAMP and its relation to mass extinction.