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Science 26 July 1996:
Vol. 273. no. 5274, pp. 452 - 457
DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5274.452
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Articles

Comparative Earth History and Late Permian Mass Extinction

A. H. Knoll, R. K. Bambach, D. E. Canfield, J. P. Grotzinger

The repeated association during the late Neoproterozoic Era of large carbon-isotopic excursions, continental glaciation, and stratigraphically anomalous carbonate precipitation provides a framework for interpreting the reprise of these conditions on the Late Permian Earth. A paleoceanographic model that was developed to explain these stratigraphically linked phenomena suggests that the overturn of anoxic deep oceans during the Late Permian introduced high concentrations of carbon dioxide into surficial environments. The predicted physiological and climatic consequences for marine and terrestrial organisms are in good accord with the observed timing and selectivity of Late Permian mass extinction.

A. H. Knoll is at the Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. R. K. Bambach is in the Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. D. E. Canfield is at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, Bremen 28359, Germany. J. P. Grotzinger is in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.


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