Mercury enrichments and the Frasnian-Famennian biotic crisis: A volcanic trigger proved?

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Research Article| April 26, 2018 Mercury enrichments and the Frasnian-Famennian biotic crisis: A volcanic trigger proved? Grzegorz Racki; Grzegorz Racki * 1Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland *E-mail: racki@us.edu.pl Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Michał Rakociński; Michał Rakociński 1Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Leszek Marynowski; Leszek Marynowski 1Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Paul B. Wignall Paul B. Wignall 2School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2018) 46 (6): 543–546. https://doi.org/10.1130/G40233.1 Article history received: 04 Oct 2017 rev-recd: 17 Apr 2018 accepted: 17 Apr 2018 first online: 26 Apr 2018 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Grzegorz Racki, Michał Rakociński, Leszek Marynowski, Paul B. Wignall; Mercury enrichments and the Frasnian-Famennian biotic crisis: A volcanic trigger proved?. Geology 2018;; 46 (6): 543–546. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G40233.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) global event, one of the five largest biotic crises of the Phanerozoic, has been inconclusively linked to rapid climatic perturbations promoted in turn by volcanic cataclysm, especially in the Viluy large igneous province (LIP) of Siberia. Conversely, the triggers of four other Phanerozoic mass extinction intervals have decisively been linked to LIPs, owing to documented mercury anomalies, shown as the diagnostic proxy. Here, we report multiple Hg enrichments in the two-step late Frasnian (Kellwasser) crisis interval from paleogeographically distant successions in Morocco, Germany, and northern Russia. The distinguishing signal, >1 ppm Hg in the domain of closing Rheic Ocean, was identified in different lithologies immediately below the F-F boundary and approximately correlated with the onset of the main extinction pulse. This key Hg anomaly, comparable only with an extreme spike known from the end-Ordovician extinction, was not controlled by increased bioproductivity in an anoxic setting. We suggest, therefore, that the global chemostratigraphic pattern near the F-F boundary records a greatly increased worldwide Hg input, controlled by the Center Hill eruptive pulse of the Eovariscan volcanic acme, but likely not manifested exclusively by LIP(s). Consequently, all five major biotic crises of the Phanerozoic have now been more reliably linked to volcanic cataclysms. You do not currently have access to this article.