Quantifying marine redox across the Triassic-Jurassic Mass extinction
|
PhD Title
|
Quantifying marine redox across the Triassic-Jurassic Mass extinction |
|
Research Theme
|
Past Life and Environments |
|
Primary Supervisor
|
 |
|
Primary Institution
|
|
|
Secondary Supervisor
|
 |
|
Secondary Institution
|
|
|
Abstract
|
The Triassic–Jurassic boundary event, c.201.5 million years ago, coincided with one of the largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history. It also occurred during the largest volcanic event of the Phanerozoic, the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, which was directly associated with the breakup of Pangaea, the formation of an ancestral Atlantic Ocean, and significant perturbations in the global carbon cycle. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to account for the Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction, including the spread of low-oxygen marine water masses onto shallow continental shelves, that subsequently became poisonous to marine life. However, three problems currently exist with this model: firstly, the timing of de-oxygenation relative to the mass extinction event is not well understood;; secondly, the heterogeneity in the timing of de-oxygenation at different locations is not well constrained;; and thirdly the prevalence (or not) of de-oxygenation in the deep ocean is relatively unknown. This PhD project will use the isotopic composition of transition metals, in organic-rich mudrocks and carbonates, to reconstruct the pattern and magnitude of marine redox change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. |
|
Policy Impact
|
|
|
Background Reading
|
|
|
Publications
|
None |
