Lethally Hot Temperatures During the Early Triassic GreenhouseOcean surface temperatures passed 38, maybe 40 C and the terrestrial equatorial passed 50 to 60 C.
Authors:
1. Yadong Sun (a,b,*)
2. Michael M. Joachimski (c)
3. Paul B. Wignall (b)
4. Chunbo Yan (a)
5. Yanlong Chen (d)
6. Haishui Jiang (a)
7. Lina Wang (a)
8. Xulong Lai (a)
Affiliations:
a. State Key Laboratory of Geobiology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, People’s Republic of China.
b. School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
c. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
d. Institute of Earth Sciences–Geology and Paleontology, University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 26, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: eeys@leeds.ac.uk
Abstract:
Global warming is widely regarded to have played a contributing role in numerous past biotic crises. Here, we show that the end-Permian mass extinction coincided with a rapid temperature rise to exceptionally high values in the Early Triassic that were inimical to life in equatorial latitudes and suppressed ecosystem recovery. This was manifested in the loss of calcareous algae, the near-absence of fish in equatorial Tethys, and the dominance of small taxa of invertebrates during the thermal maxima. High temperatures drove most Early Triassic plants and animals out of equatorial terrestrial ecosystems and probably were a major cause of the end-Smithian crisis.
Pop sci write up here.
The past is an alien world.
5 comments:
40°C sea surface temperatures would have provided fuel for some phenomenal tropical cyclones.
A 'chilling' thought, 150°F air notwithstanding.
Interesting but how do they know the dead zone fully circumscribed the Earth? The oceanic crust would have been subducted......can someone explain?
Dziban:
Yes and it'd tie into the idea of megamonsoons as well.
Anon:
I suspect that they are extrapolating from multiple samples. CAM plants may have evolved to live in such places. However, they are more recent than the PT event.
Well, maybe--these days, rain falling when the air is much over 36-37°C is almost unheard of, because temperatures that high generally require a high pressure system to be in place. High pressure leads to sinking air and reduced chances for precipitation.
So the question is, what were the equatorial/tropical pressures compared to the rest of the globe back then? Its at least conceivable that equatorial rainfall amounts were comparatively negligible during the period.
hmmm. Supersaturated humidity for the entire equatorial latitudes of the world?
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