Paper No. 6
Presentation Time: 9:20 AM

COUPLED C AND SR ISOTOPE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE EARLY TRIASSIC OF ZAL, IRAN: A RECORD OF INCREASED WEATHERING


SEDLACEK, Alexa R.C.1, SALTZMAN, Matthew R.1, ALGEO, Thomas J.2, HORACEK, Micha3, RICHOZ, Sylvain4, BRANDNER, Rainer5 and FOLAND, Kenneth1, (1)School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, 275 Mendenhall Laboratory, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, (2)Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, 500 Geology-Physics Building, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0013, (3)BLT Wieselburg, Lehr- und Forschungszentrum Francisco Josephinum, Wieselburg, 2444, Austria, (4)Austrian Academy of Sciences, c/o Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 26, Graz, A-8010, Austria, (5)Department of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria, sedlacek.6@buckeyemail.osu.edu

The Early Triassic was a period of environmental perturbations that slowed biologic recovery from the late Permian mass extinction. The Early Triassic carbon isotope record shows rapid fluctuations, and positive carbon isotope excursions are potentially the result of enhanced continental weathering due to episodes of volcanism and warming. One proxy for weathering is the 87Sr/86Sr of marine carbonate. We present a 87Sr/86Sr record from a single latest Permian-Early Triassic succession near Zal, Iran that is highly internally coherent, providing a high resolution Sr-isotope curve for this interval. The strata were biostratigraphically constrained and samples were analyzed for δ13C in a previous study. At the Zal section, 87Sr/86Sr increases from approximately 0.7071 below the Permian-Triassic boundary to 0.7081 in the Spathian, consistent with the reported values of other biostratigraphically constrained sections. At the base of the Dienerian, an increase in the rate of 87Sr/86Sr rise occurs concurrently with the onset of a positive δ13C excursion. This elevated rate continues until the Dienerian-Smithian boundary, where δ13C reaches a maximum. The increase in the rate of rise in 87Sr/86Sr in the Dienerian is consistent with previous studies showing evidence of increased bedrock weathering. Elevated weathering rates increased the nutrient flux into the oceans, which enhanced primary productivity and organic carbon burial rates. This study provides the first coupled 87Sr/86Sr and δ13C isotope records, providing a test of the hypothesis that increased continental weathering contributed to enhanced burial of organic matter during positive carbon isotope excursions.