據(jù)5月29日的《科學(xué)》雜志報(bào)道說(shuō),，來(lái)自中國(guó)西南地區(qū)的新的地質(zhì)學(xué)證據(jù)表明,，在中二疊世的時(shí)候，海洋生物出現(xiàn)大規(guī)模的死亡,，同時(shí),，鄰近的火山則以一連串的氣體性的噴發(fā)而爆發(fā)。
文章作者說(shuō),，盡管該研究沒(méi)有對(duì)這兩種現(xiàn)象之間的因果關(guān)系提出一個(gè)精確的論證,，但其結(jié)果表明，火山活動(dòng)導(dǎo)致了氣溫的降低和酸雨,，從而造成物種的大規(guī)模滅絕,。 火山活動(dòng)同時(shí)也被人們懷疑是造成接下來(lái)的二疊世末時(shí)期物種大規(guī)模滅絕的原因，這是在地球歷史上物種發(fā)生最大規(guī)模滅絕的時(shí)期,。 Paul Wignall及其同僚對(duì)一個(gè)不尋常的中二疊世系列巖石進(jìn)行了分析,，這些巖石來(lái)自中國(guó)的峨眉山火山地區(qū)，這里有交替出現(xiàn)的火山巖層和含有化石的水成巖層,，從而揭露了火山爆發(fā)和某些簡(jiǎn)單海洋生物的消失大約發(fā)生在同樣的那個(gè)時(shí)期的全過(guò)程中,。 在物種滅絕事件之后，碳同位素值發(fā)生大幅下降,，表明海洋-大氣碳循環(huán)遭到了大規(guī)模的破壞,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science 29 May 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1171956
Volcanism, Mass Extinction, and Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China
Paul B. Wignall,1,* Yadong Sun,2 David P. G. Bond,1 Gareth Izon,3 Robert J. Newton,1 Stéphanie Védrine,1 Mike Widdowson,3 Jason R. Ali,4 Xulong Lai,2 Haishui Jiang,2 Helen Cope,5 Simon H. Bottrell1
The 260-million-year-old Emeishan volcanic province of southwest China overlies and is interbedded with Middle Permian carbonates that contain a record of the Guadalupian mass extinction. Sections in the region thus provide an opportunity to directly monitor the relative timing of extinction and volcanism within the same locations. These show that the onset of volcanism was marked by both large phreatomagmatic eruptions and extinctions amongst fusulinacean foraminifers and calcareous algae. The temporal coincidence of these two phenomena supports the idea of a cause-and-effect relationship. The crisis predates the onset of a major negative carbon isotope excursion that points to subsequent severe disturbance of the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle.
1 School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
2 Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
3 Department of Earth and Environmental Science, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.
4 Department of Earth Sciences, Pokfulam Road, University of Hong Kong.
5 Department of Bioengineering, University of Strathclyde, Wolfson Building, 106 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NW, UK.
