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Carbon sequestration in an expanded lake system during the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event

Xu, W.; Ruhl, M.; Jenkyns, H.; Hesselbo, S.; Riding, J.; Selby, D.; Naafs, D.; Weijers, J.; Pancost, R.D.; Tegelaar, E.W.; Idiz, E.

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Authors

W. Xu

M. Ruhl

H. Jenkyns

S. Hesselbo

J. Riding

D. Naafs

J. Weijers

R.D. Pancost

E.W. Tegelaar

E. Idiz



Abstract

The Early Jurassic Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (~183 Ma) was marked by marine anoxia–euxinia and globally significant organic-matter burial, accompanied by a major global carbon-cycle perturbation probably linked to Karoo–Ferrar volcanism. Although the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event is well studied in the marine realm, accompanying climatic and environmental change on the continents is poorly understood. Here, utilizing radioisotopic, palynological and geochemical data from lacustrine black shales, we demonstrate that a large lake system developed contemporaneously with the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event in the Sichuan Basin, China, probably due to enhanced hydrological cycling under elevated atmospheric pCO 2. We attribute increased lacustrine organic productivity to elevated fluvial nutrient supply, which resulted in the burial of ~460 Gt of organic carbon in the Sichuan Basin alone, creating an important negative feedback in the global exogenic carbon cycle. We suggest that enhanced nutrient delivery to marine and large lacustrine systems was a key component in the global carbon cycle recovery during the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event and acted to shorten the duration of the recovery of global δ13C values.

Citation

Xu, W., Ruhl, M., Jenkyns, H., Hesselbo, S., Riding, J., Selby, D., …Idiz, E. (2017). Carbon sequestration in an expanded lake system during the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event. Nature Geoscience, 16(2), 129-134. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2871

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 8, 2016
Online Publication Date Jan 16, 2017
Publication Date Feb 1, 2017
Deposit Date Feb 21, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Nature Geoscience
Print ISSN 1752-0894
Electronic ISSN 1752-0908
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 2
Pages 129-134
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2871

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