Misplaced Pages

#141858

59-543: A significant mass extinction event occurred at the end of this stage, which was associated with anoxia and acidification in the oceans and possibly caused by the volcanic eruptions that produced the Emeishan Traps . This extinction event may be related to the much larger Permian–Triassic extinction event that followed about 10 million years later. The Capitanian Stage was introduced into scientific literature by George Burr Richardson in 1904. The name comes from

118-703: A photosymbiotic relationship; many species with poorly buffered respiratory physiologies also became extinct. The extinction event led to a collapse of the reef carbonate factory in the shallow seas surrounding South China. The ammonoids , which had been in a long-term decline for a 30 million year period since the Roadian , suffered a selective extinction pulse at the end of the Capitanian. 75.6% of coral families , 77.8% of coral genera and 82.2% of coral species that were in Permian China were lost during

177-515: A cause of marine anoxia . Two anoxic events, the middle Capitanian OAE-C1 and the end-Capitanian OAE-C2, occurred thanks to Emeishan volcanic activity. Volcanic greenhouse gas release and global warming increased continental weathering and mineral erosion, which in turn has been propounded as a factor enhancing oceanic euxinia . Euxinia may have been exacerbated even further by the increasing sluggishness of ocean circulation resulting from volcanically driven warming. The initial hydrothermal nature of

236-427: A decline of terrestrial infaunal invertebrates. Some researchers have cast doubt on whether significant acidification took place globally, concluding that the carbon cycle perturbation was too small to have caused a major worldwide drop in pH . Not all studies, however, have supported the volcanic warming hypothesis; analysis of δ13C and δ18O values from the tooth apatite of Diictodon feliceps specimens from

295-643: A lower magnitude than the Northern and Eastern Palaeotethys, which had the highest extinction magnitude. The same study found that Panthalassa's overall extinction magnitude was similar to that of the Central and Western Palaeotethys, but that it had a high magnitude of extinction of endemic taxa. This mass extinction marked the beginning of the transition between the Palaeozoic and Modern evolutionary faunas . The brachiopod-mollusc transition that characterised

354-511: A mass extinction and the cause of that mass extinction. Large phreatomagmatic eruptions occurred when the Emeishan Traps first started to erupt, leading to the extinction of fusulinacean foraminifera and calcareous algae . In the absence of radiometric ages directly constraining the extinction horizons themselves in the marine sections, most recent studies refrain from placing a number on its age, but based on extrapolations from

413-418: A potential driver of Palaeotethyan biodiversity loss. Global drying , plate tectonics , and biological competition may have also played a role in the extinction. Potential drivers of extinction proposed as causes of end-Guadalupian reef decline include fluctuations in salinity and tectonic collisions of microcontinents. Lopingian The Lopingian is the uppermost series /last epoch of

472-657: A separate marine mass extinction at the end of the Guadalupian, the dinocephalian extinction was seen to represent its terrestrial correlate. Though it was subsequently suggested that because the Russian Ischeevo fauna, which was considered the youngest dinocephalian fauna in that region, was constrained to below the Illawarra magnetic reversal and therefore had to have occurred in the Wordian stage, well before

531-452: Is believed that the extinction, which coincided with the beginning of a major negative δ13C excursion signifying a severe disturbance of the carbon cycle , was triggered by eruptions of the Emeishan Traps large igneous province , basalt piles from which currently cover an area of 250,000 to 500,000 km , although the original volume of the basalts may have been anywhere from 500,000 km to over 1,000,000 km . The age of

590-527: Is believed to have been discharged into the stratosphere of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres due to the equatorial location of the Emeishan Traps, leading to sudden global cooling and long-term global warming. The Emeishan Traps discharged between 130 and 188 teratonnes of carbon dioxide in total, doing so at a rate of between 0.08 to 0.25 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide per year, making them responsible for an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that

649-536: Is known as the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary event . Having historically been considered as part of the end-Permian extinction event, and only viewed as separate relatively recently, this mass extinction is believed to be the third largest of the Phanerozoic in terms of the percentage of species lost, after the end-Permian and Late Ordovician mass extinctions, respectively, while being

SECTION 10

#1732765324142

708-612: Is located at Nipple Hill in the southern Guadalupe Mountains of Texas. The top of the Capitanian (the base of the Wuchiapingian and Lopingian series) is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where the conodont species Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri first appears. The Capitanian Stage was part of the time in which the Zechstein was deposited in Europe. It is coeval with the old European regional Saxonian Stage. In

767-462: Is now South China. The initial recovery of reefs consisted of non-metazoan reefs: algal bioherms and algal-sponge reef buildups. This initial recovery interval was followed by an interval of Tubiphytes -dominated reefs, which in turn was followed by a return of metazoan, sponge-dominated reefs. Overall, reef recovery took approximately 2.5 million years. Among terrestrial vertebrates, the main victims were dinocephalian therapsids , which were one of

826-622: Is often called the end-Guadalupian extinction event because of its initial recognition between the Guadalupian and Lopingian series; however, more refined stratigraphic study suggests that extinction peaks in many taxonomic groups occurred within the Guadalupian, in the latter half of the Capitanian age. The extinction event has been argued to have begun around 262 million years ago with the Late Guadalupian crisis , though its most intense pulse occurred 259 million years ago in what

885-459: Is still heavily debated by palaeontologists. Early estimates indicated a loss of marine invertebrate genera between 35 and 47%, while an estimate published in 2016 suggested a loss of 33–35% of marine genera when corrected for background extinction , the Signor–Lipps effect and clustering of extinctions in certain taxa . The loss of marine invertebrates during the Capitanian mass extinction

944-711: The Titanophoneus Superzone and the Scutosaurus Superzone and later the Dinocephalian Superassemblage and the Theriodontian Superassemblage, respectively. In South Africa, this corresponded to the boundary between the variously named Pareiasaurus , Dinocephalian or Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone and the overlying assemblages. In both Russia and South Africa, this transition

1003-729: The Capitan Reef in the Guadalupe Mountains ( Texas , United States). The Capitanian was first used as a stratigraphic subdivision of the Guadalupian in 1961, when both names were still only used regionally in the southern US. The stage was added to the internationally used ICS timescale in 2001. The base of the Capitanian Stage is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where fossils of conodont species Jinogondolella postserrata first appear. The global reference profile for this stratigraphic boundary

1062-564: The Karoo Supergroup shows a positive δ13C excursion and concludes that the end of the Capitanian was marked by massive aridification in the region, although the temperature remained largely the same, suggesting that global climate change did not account for the extinction event. Analysis of vertebrate extinction rates in the Karoo Basin, specifically the upper Abrahamskraal Formation and lower Teekloof Formation , show that

1121-766: The Permian . It is the last epoch of the Paleozoic . The Lopingian was preceded by the Guadalupian and followed by the Early Triassic . The Lopingian is often synonymous with the informal terms late Permian or upper Permian . The name was introduced by Amadeus William Grabau in 1931 and derives from Leping , Jiangxi in China. It consists of two stages / ages . The earlier is the Wuchiapingian and

1180-590: The dinocephalians . In land plants , Stevens and colleagues found an extinction of 56% of plant species recorded in the mid-Upper Shihhotse Formation in North China, which was approximately mid-Capitanian in age. 24% of plant species in South China went extinct. Although it is known that the Capitanian mass extinction occurred after Olson's Extinction and before the Permian–Triassic extinction event,

1239-485: The end-Guadalupian extinction event , the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary mass extinction , the pre-Lopingian crisis , or the Middle Permian extinction , was an extinction event that predated the end-Permian extinction event. The mass extinction occurred during a period of decreased species richness and increased extinction rates near the end of the Middle Permian , also known as the Guadalupian epoch. It

SECTION 20

#1732765324142

1298-587: The Capitanian age show an increase in δC values. The change in carbon isotopes in the sea water reflects cooling of global climates . This climatic cooling may have caused the end-Capitanian extinction event among species that lived in warm water, like larger fusulinids (Verbeekninidae), large bivalves ( Alatoconchidae ) and rugose corals, and Waagenophyllidae. 31°54′33″N 104°47′21″W  /  31.9091°N 104.7892°W  / 31.9091; -104.7892 Capitanian mass extinction event The Capitanian mass extinction event , also known as

1357-521: The Capitanian mass extinction. The Verbeekinidae , a family of large fusuline foraminifera, went extinct. 87% of brachiopod species found at the Kapp Starostin Formation on Spitsbergen disappeared over a period of tens of thousands of years; though new brachiopod and bivalve species emerged after the extinction, the dominant position of the brachiopods was taken over by the bivalves. Approximately 70% of other species found at

1416-602: The Capitanian to the southward migration of many taxa through the Zechstein Sea . Carbonate platform deposits in Hungary and Hydra show no sign of an extinction event at the end of the Capitanian; the extinction event there is recorded in the middle Capitanian. The volcanics of the Emeishan Traps , which are interbedded with tropical carbonate platforms of the Maokou Formation, are unique for preserving

1475-403: The Emeishan Traps meant that local marine life around South China would have been especially jeopardised by anoxia due to hyaloclastite development in restricted, fault-bounded basins. Expansion of oceanic anoxia has been posited to have occurred slightly before the Capitanian extinction event itself by some studies, though it is probable that upwelling of anoxic waters prior to the mass extinction

1534-491: The Emeishan Traps or to any proposed extinction triggers invoked to explain the biodiversity drop in low-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The Capitanian mass extinction has been attributed to sea level fall , with the widespread demise of reefs in particular being linked to this marine regression. The Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary coincided with one of the most prominent first-order marine regressions of

1593-660: The Kapp Starostin Formation also vanished. The fossil record of East Greenland is similar to that of Spitsbergen; the faunal losses in Canada's Sverdrup Basin are comparable to the extinctions in Spitsbergen and East Greenland, but the post-extinction recovery that happened in Spitsbergen and East Greenland did not occur in the Sverdrup Basin. Whereas rhynchonelliform brachiopods made up 99.1% of

1652-515: The Lopingian include the genera Clarkina and Hindeodus . The Lopingian would see the decline of the Paleozoic ammonoid orders ( Goniatitida and Prolecanitida ) and the rise of the order Ceratitida , especially within the superfamily Xenodiscoidea . Only seven trilobites are known from the Lopingian, with only five by the end of the epoch. One of the last members of this clade

1711-562: The Permian timescale an age of approximately 260–262 Ma has been estimated; this fits broadly with radiometric ages from the terrestrial realm, assuming the two events are contemporaneous. Plant losses occurred either at the same time as the marine extinction or after it. The extinction of fusulinacean foraminifera in Southwest China was originally dated to the end of the Guadalupian, but studies published in 2009 and 2010 dated

1770-638: The Phanerozoic. Evidence for abrupt sea level fall at the terminus of the Guadalupian comes from evaporites and terrestrial facies overlying marine carbonate deposits across the Guadalupian-Lopingian transition. Additionally, a tremendous unconformity is associated with the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary in many strata across the world. The closure of the Sino-Mongolian Seaway at the end of the Capitanian has been invoked as

1829-497: The broader shift from the Palaeozoic to Modern evolutionary faunas has been suggested to have had its roots in the Capitanian mass extinction event, although other research has concluded that this may be an illusion created by taphonomic bias in silicified fossil assemblages, with the transition beginning only in the aftermath of the more cataclysmic end-Permian extinction. After the Capitanian mass extinction, disaster taxa such as Earlandia and Diplosphaerina became abundant in what

Capitanian - Misplaced Pages Continue

1888-529: The degree of taxonomic restructuring within ecosystems or the loss of ecological niches or even entire ecosystems themselves). Few published estimates for the impact on terrestrial ecosystems exist for the Capitanian mass extinction. Among vertebrates , Day and colleagues suggested a 74–80% loss of generic richness in tetrapods of the Karoo Basin in South Africa, including the extinction of

1947-519: The diversity within individual communities more severely than the Permian–Triassic extinction event . Although faunas began recovery immediately after the Capitanian extinction event, rebuilding complex trophic structures and refilling guilds, diversity and disparity fell further until the Permian– Triassic boundary. The impact of the Capitanian extinction event on marine ecosystems

2006-417: The early Guadalupian ( Roadian , Wordian ), led to an extended period of low diversity when worldwide two-thirds of terrestrial vertebrate life was lost. Global diversity rose dramatically in the Capitanian, probably the result of disaster taxa filling empty guilds, only to fall again when the end-Guadalupian event caused a diversity drop in the Wuchiapingian . Carbon isotopes in marine limestone from

2065-537: The eastern Tethys domain , the Capitanian overlaps the regional Murgabian Stage, the Midian Stage and the lower part of the Laibinian Stage. In Russia the Capitanian equals the lower part of the regional Severodvinian Stage. The Capitanian contains one ammonite biozone ( Timorites ) and three conodont biozones: Larger fusulinid species permit a division in two biozones: Olson’s Extinction , in

2124-630: The end of the Guadalupian, this constraint applied to the type locality only. The recognition of a younger dinocephalian fauna in Russia (the Sundyr Tetrapod Assemblage) and the retrieval of biostratigraphically well-constrained radiometric ages via uranium–lead dating of a tuff from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin demonstrated that the dinocephalian extinction did occur in

2183-623: The exact age of the Capitanian mass extinction remains controversial. This is partly due to the somewhat circumstantial age of the Capitanian– Wuchiapingian boundary itself, which is currently estimated to be approximately 259.1 million years old, but is subject to change by the Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy of the International Commission on Stratigraphy . Additionally, there is a dispute regarding

2242-492: The extinction event and the deposition of the Emeishan basalts are in good alignment. Reefs and other marine sediments interbedded among basalt piles indicate Emeishan volcanism initially developed underwater; terrestrial outflows of lava occurred only later in the large igneous province's period of activity. These eruptions would have released high doses of toxic mercury ; increased mercury concentrations are coincident with

2301-416: The extinction of these fusulinaceans to the mid-Capitanian. Brachiopod and coral losses occurred in the middle of the Capitanian stage. The extinction suffered by the ammonoids may have occurred in the early Wuchiapingian. The existence of change in tetrapod faunas in the mid-Permian has long been known in South Africa and Russia. In Russia, it corresponded to the boundary between what became known as

2360-451: The extinction was precipitated directly by the Emeishan Traps or by their interaction with platform carbonates. The emissions of the Emeishan Traps may also have contributed to the downfall of the ozone shield, exposing the Earth's surface to a vastly increased flux of high-frequency solar radiation. Global warming resulting from the large igneous province's activity has been implicated as

2419-521: The extinction were either endemic species of epicontinental seas around Pangaea that died when the seas closed, or were dominant species of the Paleotethys Ocean . Evidence from marine deposits in Japan and Primorye suggests that mid-latitude marine life became affected earlier by the extinction event than marine organisms of the tropics. Whether and to what degree latitude affected

Capitanian - Misplaced Pages Continue

2478-558: The fifth worst in terms of ecological severity. The global nature of the Capitanian mass extinction has been called into question by some palaeontologists as a result of some analyses finding it to have affected only low-latitude taxa in the Northern Hemisphere. In the aftermath of Olson's Extinction , global diversity rose during the Capitanian. This was probably the result of disaster taxa replacing extinct guilds . The Capitanian mass extinction greatly reduced disparity (the range of different guilds); eight guilds were lost. It impacted

2537-476: The individuals found in tropical carbonates in the Western United States, South China and Greece prior to the extinction, molluscs made up 61.2% of the individuals found in similar environments after the extinction. 87% of brachiopod species and 82% of fusulinacean foraminifer species in South China were lost. Although severe for brachiopods, the Capitanian extinction's impact on their diversity

2596-479: The large scale decrease in terrestrial vertebrate diversity coincided with volcanism in the Emeishan Traps, although robust evidence for a causal relationship between these two events remains elusive. A 2015 study called into question whether the Capitanian mass extinction event was global in nature at all or merely a regional biotic crisis limited to South China and a few other areas, finding no evidence for terrestrial or marine extinctions in eastern Australia linked to

2655-424: The late Capitanian, around 260 million years ago. In the oceans, the Capitanian extinction event led to high extinction rates among ammonoids, corals and calcareous algal reef-building organisms, foraminifera, bryozoans , and brachiopods. It was more severe in restricted marine basins than in the open oceans. It appears to have been particularly selective against shallow-water taxa that relied on photosynthesis or

2714-482: The later is the Changhsingian . The International Chronostratigraphic Chart (v2018/07) provides a numerical age of 259.1 ±0.5 Ma. If a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) has been approved, the lower boundary of the earliest stage determines numerical age of an epoch. The GSSP for the Wuchiapingian has a numerical age of 259.8 ± 0.4 Ma. Evidence from Milankovitch cycles suggests that

2773-733: The length of an Earth day during this epoch was approximately 22 hours. During the Lopingian, most of the earth was in the supercontinent Pangaea . The Zechstein sea , would, at times, be connected to the Paleotethys; Other features of the earth during the time were the Microcontinent Cathaysia ; And the Cimmerian superterrane , which divided the Tethys Ocean realm into the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and

2832-404: The likelihood of taxa to go extinct remains disputed amongst palaeontologists. Whereas some studies conclude that the extinction event was a regional one limited to tropical areas, others suggest that there was little latitudinal variation in extinction patterns. A study examining foraminiferal extinctions in particular found that the Central and Western Palaeotethys experienced taxonomic losses of

2891-422: The most common elements of tetrapod fauna of the Guadalupian; only one dinocephalian genus survived the Capitanian extinction event. The diversity of the anomodonts that lived during the late Guadalupian was cut in half by the Capitanian mass extinction. Terrestrial survivors of the Capitanian extinction event were generally 20 kg (44 lb) to 50 kg (110 lb) and commonly found in burrows . It

2950-491: The negative carbon isotope excursion, indicating a common volcanic cause. Coronene enrichment at the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary further confirms the existence of massive volcanic activity; coronene can only form at extremely high temperatures created either by extraterrestrial impacts or massive volcanism, with the former being ruled out because of an absence of iridium anomalies coeval with mercury and coronene anomalies. A large amount of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide

3009-505: The oceans triggered ocean acidification , which probably contributed to the demise of various calcareous marine organisms, particularly giant alatoconchid bivalves. By virtue of the greater solubility of carbon dioxide in colder waters, ocean acidification was especially lethal in high latitude waters. Furthermore, acid rain would have arisen as yet another biocidal consequence of the intense sulphur emissions produced by Emeishan Traps volcanism. This resulted in soil acidification and

SECTION 50

#1732765324142

3068-497: The severity of the extinction and whether the extinction in China happened at the same time as the extinction in Spitsbergen. According to one study, the Capitanian mass extinction was not one discrete event but a continuous decline in diversity that began at the end of the Wordian . Another study examining fossiliferous facies in Svalbard found no evidence for a sudden mass extinction, instead attributing local biotic changes during

3127-488: The slowly expanding Neotethys Ocean . The Lopingian ended with the Permian–Triassic extinction event , where over 95% of species went extinct . The series follows the Guadalupian , which ended with the Capitanian mass extinction , during which many species of brachiopods , ammonoids and other groups went extinct. Conodonts would reach their all-time low during this period, despite this, they are recovered from most marine Permian localities. Common conodonts from

3186-499: Was Kathwaia capitorosa . Eurypterids were nearly extinct by this point, consisting of the possibly Lopingian Campylocephalus permicus of Russia; and the Changhsingian Woodwardopterus? freemanorum of Australia. A member of the extant Horseshoe crab family, Limulidae ; Guangyuanolimulus appears at the end of the period. On land, gorgonopsians would become the apex predators after

3245-413: Was a local phenomenon specific to South China. Because the ocean acts as a carbon sink absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide, it is likely that the excessive volcanic emissions of carbon dioxide resulted in marine hypercapnia, which would have acted in conjunction with other killing mechanisms to further increase the severity of the biotic crisis. The dissolution of volcanically emitted carbon dioxide in

3304-495: Was associated with the extinction of the previously dominant group of therapsid amniotes , the dinocephalians, which led to its later designation as the dinocephalian extinction. Post-extinction origination rates remained low through the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone for at least 1 million years, which suggests that there was a delayed recovery of Karoo Basin ecosystems. After the recognition of

3363-607: Was both one of the largest and one of the most precipitous in the entire geological history of the Earth. The rate of carbon dioxide emissions during the Capitanian mass extinction, though extremely abrupt, was nonetheless significantly slower than that during the end-Permian extinction, during which carbon dioxide levels rose five times faster according to one study. Significant quantities of methane released by dikes and sills intruding into coal-rich deposits has been implicated as an additional driver of warming, though this idea has been challenged by studies that instead conclude that

3422-497: Was comparable in magnitude to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event . Some studies have considered it the third or fourth greatest mass extinction in terms of the proportion of marine invertebrate genera lost; a different study found the Capitanian extinction event to be only the ninth worst in terms of taxonomic severity (number of genera lost) but found it to be the fifth worst with regard to its ecological impact (i.e.,

3481-405: Was nowhere near as strong as that of the later end-Permian extinction. Biomarker evidence indicates red algae and photoautotrophic bacteria dominated marine microbial communities. Significant turnovers in microbial ecosystems occurred during the Capitanian mass extinction, though they were smaller in magnitude than those associated with the end-Permian extinction. Most of the marine victims of

#141858