TY - ABST

T1 - Soil loss and resilience associated with end-Triassic deforestation

AU - van de Schootbrugge, Bas

AU - Lindström, Sofie

AU - Strother, Paul K

AU - Hollaar, T

AU - Kuhlmann, Natasha

AU - Thein, Jean

AU - van der Weijst, Carolein

AU - van Konijnenburg-van Cittert, Han

AU - Schobben, Martin A N

AU - Visscher, Henk

AU - Sluijs, Appy

N1 - Conference code: 5

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Soils are a crucial link between the atmosphere, biosphere, and geosphere and disturbances to the health of soilswill severely impact plants as well as a multitude of organisms living in or on soils. Catastrophic soil loss isthought to have played a pivotal role during mass-extinction events as a result of major deforestation, but theexact feedbacks remain elusive. Here, we assess the role of soil loss into the end-Triassic mass-extinction eventbased on proxy data obtained from core material from France, Germany, England, Denmark, and Sweden. Claymineral and palynological data indicate a strong increase in chemical weathering and mechanical erosion duringthe latest Rhaetian with the influx of kaolinite and abundantly reworked Palaeozoic organic matter. Based on anew timeline, these changes were coeval with intense volcanic activity in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province(CAMP), which released large quantities of volatiles that contributed directly and indirectly to enhanced weathering. Erosion rates likely also rose in response to deforestation, repeated forest fires, and seismic activity relatedto CAMP emplacement. Using a novel proxy based on biological degradation of fern spore walls, the intensityof biodegradation by fungi and bacteria, a process coupled to organic matter decay in soils, strongly decreasedacross the T/J boundary. We interpret this as evidence for the widespread removal of soils. Taken together, CAMPinduced environmental changes led to profound changes in weathering and erosion and removal of soils, while soilresilience during the Hettangian proceeded hand in hand with recovery in Jurassic seas

AB - Soils are a crucial link between the atmosphere, biosphere, and geosphere and disturbances to the health of soilswill severely impact plants as well as a multitude of organisms living in or on soils. Catastrophic soil loss isthought to have played a pivotal role during mass-extinction events as a result of major deforestation, but theexact feedbacks remain elusive. Here, we assess the role of soil loss into the end-Triassic mass-extinction eventbased on proxy data obtained from core material from France, Germany, England, Denmark, and Sweden. Claymineral and palynological data indicate a strong increase in chemical weathering and mechanical erosion duringthe latest Rhaetian with the influx of kaolinite and abundantly reworked Palaeozoic organic matter. Based on anew timeline, these changes were coeval with intense volcanic activity in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province(CAMP), which released large quantities of volatiles that contributed directly and indirectly to enhanced weathering. Erosion rates likely also rose in response to deforestation, repeated forest fires, and seismic activity relatedto CAMP emplacement. Using a novel proxy based on biological degradation of fern spore walls, the intensityof biodegradation by fungi and bacteria, a process coupled to organic matter decay in soils, strongly decreasedacross the T/J boundary. We interpret this as evidence for the widespread removal of soils. Taken together, CAMPinduced environmental changes led to profound changes in weathering and erosion and removal of soils, while soilresilience during the Hettangian proceeded hand in hand with recovery in Jurassic seas

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - MASS EXTINCTION

KW - Triassic

KW - Jurassic

KW - reworking

KW - palynology

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - EGU Galileo Conference

Y2 - 28 August 2019 through 31 August 2019

ER -