Mercury isotope constraints on the timing and pattern of magmatism during the end-Triassic mass extinction

Abstract

The End-Triassic Mass Extinction (ETME) was broadly coincident with the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). However, the relationship between evolutionary phases of CAMP (i.e. prolonged shallow intrusive pulses and later extrusives) and the ETME is not clear. Here, a high-resolution record of changing magmatic activity is established using mercury (Hg) isotopes through a Triassic-Jurassic sedimentary succession deposited on the northern flank of CAMP. Successive negative and positive mass independent fractionation (MIF) of odd Hg isotopes through the end-Triassic interval in this succession suggest dominantly thermogenic Hg release from intrusive heating of organic-rich sedimentary rocks, followed by mainly volcanogenic input of mantle-sourced Hg. This inferred pattern is also supported by correlations to available CAMP ages. Minimum calculated volumes of thermogenic and volcanogenic Hg needed to drive the observed shifts at the basin-scale are plausible based on likely CAMP Hg release volumes, and biotic turnover in the studied region was unlikely to have occurred before the onset of volcanogenic Hg release.