Qie, Wenkun;
Zhang, Junpeng;
Luo, Genming;
Algeo, Thomas J;
Chen, Bo;
Xiang, Lei;
Liang, Kun;
... Wang, Xiangdong; + view all
(2023)
Enhanced Continental Weathering as a Trigger for the End‐Devonian Hangenberg Crisis.
Geophysical Research Letters
, 50
(11)
, Article e2022GL102640. 10.1029/2022gl102640.
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Abstract
The Hangenberg Crisis coincided with a large decline of biodiversity and widespread anoxia in the end-Devonian ocean. Previous research attributed marine anoxia to the spread of deeply-rooted plants and/or increased volcanism on the continents, but crucial links have not been thoroughly explored. Herein, we propose enhanced weathering as a key trigger, as evidenced by a negative shift (∼8‰) in lithium isotopes and a coupled response in carbon isotopes of marine carbonates in South China. Our findings imply that rapid weathering of crustal rocks increased nutrient delivery to the ocean, as indicated by an increase in the carbonate-associated phosphate levels, contributing to oceanic eutrophication. In the absence of massive volcanic emissions and intense orogeny, the cause of enhanced continental weathering was likely the expansion of the terrestrial rhizosphere, highlighting the potential for land plant evolution to initiate weathering changes of sufficient severity to trigger a major bio/environmental crisis in the Earth system.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Enhanced Continental Weathering as a Trigger for the End‐Devonian Hangenberg Crisis |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2022gl102640 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102640 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10172037 |
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