ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1663981
This article is part of the Research TopicBiogeochemical Cycles in Marine Sediments: Insights from Elemental Enrichment, Mineralogy, and Stable Isotope VariabilityView all 3 articles
The Sustained Middle Triassic Habitable Stability Post the Severe Carbon Oscillation: implicaitons from Microbialite Records, Upper Yangtze Block
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
- 2Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Canada
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The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was one of the worst crises for life on earth, killing >90% of marine species, after which carbon cycle perturbations spanned the entire Early Triassic (~7-9 Ma). Previous studies indicated the global CO2 concentration dropped sharply from 2,800 ppmv to a level of approximately 450 ppmv (comparable to the present) at the Early-Middle Triassic boundary. This optimal CO2 level, a stabilized record of 2‰ δ 13 Ccarb, persisted throughout the Middle Triassic. While how to maintain this long-term habitable CO2 level has always been puzzling. Here, we examined the sedimentary succession that spans the duration from Late Olenekian (late Early Triassic) to Anisian (Middle Triassic), Upper Yangtze Block. The results show that the percentage of microbialite in the carbonate succession boomed after the transition, between the lower thin-bedded dolostones and the upper thick-bedded microbialites in morphology, which indicates the carbon pump changed from a low-rate chemical carbonate factory to a high-rate microbial carbonate factory. This microbial mat expansion corresponds to the enhanced terrigenous input and primary productivity. Coincidentally, the δ 13 Ccarb curve records a change from strong oscillations to a long-term stability. This turnover corresponds to the occurrence of the plant (northern Italy) and marine fossil assemblages (South China). The findings support that the enhanced microbial pump, as one of the dynamic sequestration of atmospheric CO2, was a key modulator for the Middle Triassic global climate system and facilitated the maintenance of more resilient ecosystems.
Keywords: Middle Triassic, Carbonate succession, Microbialite, Habitable environment, South China
Received: 11 Jul 2025; Accepted: 19 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Azmy, Chen, Sun and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anqing Chen, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, China
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