Oxygen-Depleted Toxic Oceans Had Key Role in Mass Extinction (IMAGE)

University of Southampton

Oxygen-Depleted Toxic Oceans Had Key Role in Mass Extinction

Caption

Life of the Triassic met a choking end in a runaway greenhouse climate, heating the seas into warm stagnation. The greenhouse was caused by CO2 released by massive outpourings of basalt from fissure eruptions associated with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The resulting boom in marine microbes consumed oxygen and released poisonous hydrogen sulfide into water and air, creating "dead zones" above and below, worldwide. Hydrogen sulfide poisoning is detected by molecular fossils (biomarkers), depicted in lenses.

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Victor Leshyk

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