Paper No. 14-4
Presentation Time: 2:35 PM
RECOMPILATION OF CLIMATE-SENSITIVE SEDIMENTS ACROSS THE PERMIAN-TRIASSIC BOUNDARY
The largest mass extinction occurred near the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB; 251.902 ± 0.024 Ma), with the extinction of more than 90% of aquatic species and 70% of terrestrial species. In this study we have compiled a Late Permian to Early Triassic data base of climate-sensitive sediments from Rees et al., (2002), the Paleomap Project by Scotese (2001), and additional literature. Upper Permian (259.1-254.9 Ma) and Lower Triassic (251.9-247.2 Ma) biostratigraphic age constraints were applied to the sedimentary record and the paleogeographic information of these data was updated using Gplates 2.0. These data are compared with water masses and climate sensitivity simulations from the fully coupled comprehensive Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). The climate simulation using radiative forcing 4xCO2 relative to preindustrial atmospheric levels (or 4xCO2 PAL) is consistent climate-sensitive reconstruction for the Late Permian whereas the most extreme scenario, a 12xCO2 simulation with lower cloud optical depth may fit best the reconstructed condition for the Early Triassic.