Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:39:25.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Middle Phanerozoic mass extinctions and a tribute to the work of Professor Tony Hallam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2015

PAUL B. WIGNALL  and
BAS VAN DE SCHOOTBRUGGE
PAUL B. WIGNALL*
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
BAS VAN DE SCHOOTBRUGGE
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Budapestlaan 4, 3584CD, The Netherlands
*
†Author for correspondence: p.wignall@see.leeds.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tony Hallam's contributions to mass extinction studies span more than 50 years and this thematic issue provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the many pioneering contributions he has made to this field. Early work (1961) on the Jurassic in Europe revealed a link, during the Toarcian Stage, between extinction and the spread of anoxic waters during transgression – the first time such a common leitmotif had been identified. He also identified substantial sea-level changes during other mass extinction intervals with either regression (end-Triassic) or early transgression (end-Permian) coinciding with the extinction phases. Hallam's (1981) study on bivalves was also the first to elevate the status of the end-Triassic crisis and place it amongst true mass extinctions, changing previous perceptions that it was a part of a protracted period of turnover, although debates on the duration of this crisis continue (Hallam, 2002). Conflicting views on the nature of recovery from mass extinctions have also developed, especially for the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction. These discussions can be traced to Hallam's seminal 1991 paper that noted the considerable delay in benthic recovery during Early Triassic time and attributed it to the persistence of the harmful, high-stress conditions responsible for the extinction itself. This idea now forms the cornerstone of one of the more favoured explanations for this ultra-low diversity interval.

Keywords

mass extinctionHallamanoxiasea level
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 153 , Special Issue 2: Mass Extinctions , March 2016 , pp. 195 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, L., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F. & Michel, H. V. 1980. Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction – experimental results and theoretical implications. Science 208, 1095–108.Google Scholar
Bachan, A. & Payne, J. 2015. Modelling the impact of pulsed CAMP volcanism on pCO2 and δ13C across the Triassic–Jurassic transition. Geological Magazine.Google Scholar
Bailey, T. R., Rosenthal, Y., McArthur, J. M., van de Schootbrugge, B. & Thirlwall, M. F. 2003. Paleoceanographic changes of the Late Pliensbachian–Early Toarcian interval: a possible link to the genesis of an Oceanic Anoxic Event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 212, 307–20.Google Scholar
Bakker, R. T. 1977. Tetrapod mass extinctions – a model of the regulation of speciation rates and immigration by cycles of topographic diversity. In Patterns of Evolution as Illustrated in the Fossil Record (ed. Hallam, A.), pp. 439–68. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Benton, M. J. 1986. More than one event in the late Triassic mass extinction. Nature 321, 857–61.Google Scholar
Benton, M. J. 1991. What really happened in the Late Triassic? Historical Biology 5, 263–78.Google Scholar
Brusatte, S. L., Nesbitt, S. J., Irmis, R. B., Butler, R. J., Benton, M. J. & Norell, M. A. 2010. The origin and early radiation of dinosaurs. Earth-Science Reviews 101, 68–100.Google Scholar
Burgess, S. D., Bowring, S. & Shen, S.-Z. 2014. High-precision timeline for Earth's most severe extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, 3316–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caruthers, A. H., Smith, P. L. & Gröcke, D. R. 2013. The Pliensbachian–Toarcian (Early Jurassic) extinction, a global multi-phased event. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 386, 104–18.Google Scholar
Colbert, E. H. 1958. Tetrapod extinctions at the end of the Triassic Period. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 44, 973–7.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1961. Cyclothems, transgressions and faunal change in the Lias of north-west Europe. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society 18, 124–74.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1967. An environmental study of the Upper Domerian and Lower Toarcian in Great Britain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 252, 393–455.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1972. Diversity and density characteristics of Pliensbachian–Toarcian molluscan and brachiopod faunas of the North Atlantic. Lethaia 5, 389–412.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1976. Stratigraphic distribution and ecology of European Jurassic bivalves. Lethaia 9, 245–59.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1977. Jurassic bivalve biogeography. Paleobiology 3, 58–73.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1981. The end-Triassic bivalve extinction event. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35, 1–44.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1986. The Pliensbachian and Tithonian extinction events. Nature 319, 765–8.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1987. Radiations and extinctions in relation to environmental change in the marine Lower Jurassic of north-west Europe. Paleobiology 13, 152–68.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1989. The case for sea level as a dominant causal factor in mass extinction of marine invertebrates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 325, 437–55.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1991. Why was there a delayed radiation after the end-Palaeozoic crisis? Historical Biology 5, 257–62.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1995. Oxygen-restricted facies of the basal Jurassic of north west Europe. Historical Biology 10, 247–57.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1997. Estimates of the amount and rate of sea-level change across the Rhaetian–Hettangian and Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundaries (latest Triassic to earliest Jurassic). Journal of the Geological Society, London 154, 773–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A. 2002. How catastrophic was the end-Triassic mass extinction? Lethaia 35, 147–57.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. & Miller, A. I. 1988. Extinction and survival in the Bivalvia. In Extinction and Survival in the Fossil Record (ed. Larwood, G. P.), pp. 121–38. Systematics Association Special Volume 34. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. & Wignall, P. B. 1997. Mass Extinctions and their Aftermath. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 320 pp.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. & Wignall, P. B. 1999. Mass extinctions and sea-level changes. Earth-Science Reviews 48, 217–50.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. & Wignall, P. B. 2000. Facies change across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in Nevada, USA. Journal of the Geological Society, London 156, 453–6.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. & Wignall, P. B. 2004. Discussion on sea-level change and facies development across potential Triassic–Jurassic boundary horizons, SW Britain. Journal of the Geological Society, London 161, 1–4.Google Scholar
Hallam, A., Wignall, P. B., Yin, J. & Riding, R. 2000. An investigation into possible facies changes across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in southern Tibet. Sedimentary Geology 137, 101–6.Google Scholar
Hannisdal, B. & Peters, S. E. 2011. Phanerozoic Earth system evolution and marine biodiversity. Science 334, 1121–4.Google Scholar
Harazim, D., van de Schootbrugge, B., Sorichter, K., Fiebig, J., Weug, A., Suan, G. & Oschmann, W. 2013. Spatial variability of watermass conditions within the European Epicontinental Seaway during the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian–Toarcian). Sedimentology 60, 359–90.Google Scholar
Hesselbo, S. P., Gröcke, D. R., Jenkyns, H. C., Bjerrum, C. J., Farrimond, P., Morgans Bell, H. S. & Green, O. R. 2000. Massive dissociation of gas hydrate during a Jurassic oceanic anoxic event. Nature 406, 392–5.Google Scholar
Hofman, R., Hautmann, M., Wasmer, M. & Bucher, H. 2013. Palaeoecology of the Spathian Virgin Formation (Utah, USA) and its implications for the Early Triassic recovery. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58, 149–73.Google Scholar
Isozaki, Y. 1997. Permo-Triassic boundary superanoxia and stratified superocean: records from lost deep sea. Science 276, 235–8.Google Scholar
Kaiho, K., Chen, Z.-Q., Kawahata, H., Kajiwara, Y. & Sato, H. 2006. Close-up of the end-Permian mass extinction recorded in the Meishan section, South China: sedimentary, elemental, and biotic characterization and a negative shift of sulfate sulfur isotope ratio. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239, 396–405.Google Scholar
Marzoli, A., Renne, P. R., Piccirillo, E. M., Ernesto, A., Bellieni, G. & De Min, A. 1999. Extensive 200-million-year-old continental flood basalts of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. Science 284, 616–8.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1967. Revolutions in the history of life. In Uniformity and Simplicity: A Symposium on the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature (ed. Albritton, C.C. Jr), pp. 63–91. Geological Society of America, Special Papers 89.Google Scholar
Olsen, P. E. & Galton, P. M. 1977. Triassic–Jurassic tetrapod extinctions: are they real? Science 197, 983–6.Google Scholar
Olsen, P. E., Shubin, N. H. & Anders, M. H. 1987. New Early Jurassic tetrapod assemblages constrain Triassic–Jurassic tetrapod extinction event. Science 237, 1025–9.Google Scholar
Pálfy, J. & Kocsis, A. T. 2014. Volcanism of the Central Atlantic magmatic province as the trigger of environmental and biotic changes around the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. In Volcanism, Impacts, and Mass Extinctions: Causes and Effects (eds Keller, G. & Kerr, A. C.), pp. 245–61. Geological Society of America, Special Papers 505.Google Scholar
Pálfy, J. & Smith, P. L. 2000. Synchrony between Early Jurassic extinction, oceanic anoxic event, and the Karoo-Ferrar flood basalt volcanism. Geology 28, 747–50.Google Scholar
Richoz, S., Van De Schootbrugge, B., Pross, J., Püttman, W., Quan, T. M., Lindström, S., Heunisch, C., Fiebig, J., Maquil, R., Schouten, S., Hauzenberger, C. A. & Wignall, P. B. 2012. Hydrogen sulphide poisoning of shallow seas following the end-Triassic extinction. Nature Geoscience 5, 662–7.Google Scholar
Satterley, A. K., Marshall, J. D. & Fairchild, I. J. 2006. Diagenesis of an Upper Triassic reef complex, Wilde Kirche, Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria. Sedimentology 41, 935–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schubert, J. K. & Bottjer, D. J. 1992. Early Triassic stromatolites as post-mass extinction disaster forms. Geology 20, 883–6.Google Scholar
Smith, A. B. 2007. Marine diversity through the Phanerozoic: problems and prospects. Journal of the Geological Society, London 164, 731–45.Google Scholar
Song, H.-J., Tong, J.-N., Wignall, P. B., Luo, M., Tian, L., Song, H.-Y., Huang, Y.-F. & Chu, D.-L. 2015. Early Triassic disaster and opportunistic foraminifers in South China. Geological Magazine.Google Scholar
Song, H.-J., Wignall, P. B., Chen, Z.-Q., Tong, J.-N., Bond, D. P. G., Lai, X.-L., Zhao, X.-M., Jiang, H.-S., Yan, C.-B., Nin, Z.-J., Chen, J., Yang, H. & Wang, Y.-B. 2011. Recovery tempo and pattern of marine ecosystems after the end-Permian mass extinction. Geology 39, 739–42.Google Scholar
Song, H.-J., Wignall, P. B., Tong, J.-N. & Yin, H.-F. 2013. Two pulses of extinction during the Permian–Triassic crisis. Nature Geoscience 6, 52–6Google Scholar
Sun, Y.-D., Joachimski, M. M., Wignall, P. B., Yan, C.-B., Chen, Y.-L., Jiang, H.-S., Wang, L.-N. & Lai, X.-L., 2012. Lethally hot temperatures during the Early Triassic greenhouse. Science 388, 366–70.Google Scholar
Svensen, H., Planke, S., Chevallier, L., Malthe-Sørenssen, A., Corfu, F. & Jamtveit, B. 2007. Hydrothermal venting of greenhouse gases triggering Early Jurassic global warming. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 256, 554–66.Google Scholar
Tanner, L. H., Lucas, S. G. & Chapman, M. G. 2004. Assessing the record and causes of Late Triassic extinctions. Earth-Science Reviews 65, 103–39.Google Scholar
Teichert, C. 1990. The Permian–Triassic boundary revisited. In Extinction Events in Earth History (eds Kauffman, E. G. & Walliser, O. H.), pp. 199–238. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Toljagić, O. & Butler, R. J. 2013. Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction as a trigger for the Mesozoic radiation of crocodylomorphs. Biological Letters 9, doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0095.Google Scholar
van de Schootbrugge, B., Quan, T. M., Lindstrm, S., Pttmann, W., Heunisch, C., Pross, J., Fiebig, J., Petchick, R., Rhling, H.-G., Richoz, S., Rosenthal, Y. & Falkowski, P. G. 2009. Floral change across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary linked to flood basalt volcanism. Nature Geoscience 2, 589–94.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B. 2005. The link between large igneous province eruptions and mass extinctions. Elements 1, 293–7.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B., Bond, D. P. G., Kuwahara, K., Kakuwa, K., Newton, R. J. & Poulton, S. W. 2010. An 80 million year oceanic redox history from Permian to Jurassic pelagic sediments of the Mino-Tamba terrane, SW Japan, and the origin of four mass extinctions. Global and Planetary Change 71, 109–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wignall, P. B., Bond, D. P. G., Sun, Y. D., Grasby, S. E., Beauchamp, B., Joachimski, M. M. & Blomeir, D. P. G. 2015. Ultra-shallow marine anoxia in an Early Triassic storm-dominated clastic ramp (Spitsbergen) and the suppression of benthic radiation. Geological Magazine.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B. & Hallam, A. 1992. Anoxia as a cause of the Permian/Triassic extinction: facies evidence from northern Italy and the western United States. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 93, 21–46.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B. & Hallam, A. 1993. Griesbachian (Earliest Triassic) palaeoenvironmental changes in the Salt Range, Pakistan and south-east China and their bearing on the Permo-Triassic mass extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 102, 215–37.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B., Hallam, A., Newton, R. J., Sha, J.-G., Reeves, E., Mattioli, E. & Crowley, S. 2006. An eastern Tethyan (Tibetan) record of the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) mass extinction event. Geobiology 4, 179–90.Google Scholar
Wignall, P. B., Newton, R. A. & Little, C. T. S. 2005. The timing of paleoenvironmental change and cause-and-effect relationships during the Early Jurassic mass extinction in Europe. American Journal of Sciences 305, 1014–32.Google Scholar