U. Calgary Scientists Unearth "Smoking Gun" Of Permian Extinction - Coal Ash - Phys.org

[hatrack]

About 250 million years about 95 per cent of life was wiped out in the sea and 70 per cent on land. Researchers at the University of Calgary believe they have discovered evidence to support massive volcanic eruptions burnt significant volumes of coal, producing ash clouds that had broad impact on global oceans.

"This could literally be the smoking gun that explains the latest Permian extinction," says Dr. Steve Grasby, adjunct professor in the University of Calgary's Department of Geoscience and research scientist at Natural Resources Canada.

Grasby and colleagues discovered layers of coal ash in rocks from the extinction boundary in Canada's High Arctic that give the first direct proof to support this and have published their findings in Nature Geoscience.

Unlike end of dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, where there is widespread belief that the impact of a meteorite was at least the partial cause, it is unclear what caused the late Permian extinction. Previous researchers have suggested massive volcanic eruptions through coal beds in Siberia would generate significant greenhouse gases causing run away global warming. "Our research is the first to show direct evidence that massive volcanic eruptions – the largest the world has ever witnessed –caused massive coal combustion thus supporting models for significant generation of greenhouse gases at this time," says Grasby.

EDIT

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-gun-world-biggest-extinction.html

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Tool monkeys FTW!

:woohoo:

[NickB79]

2. Thank goodness we, as a sentient species, has been able to learn from the past

And not duplicate mistakes that could potentially wipe out most life on the plan.......oh, crap.

[InvisibleTouch]

3. For the longest time it was thought that the convergence of the continents...

...into the single supercontinent Pangaea was the cause of the Permian mass extinction. So much shoreline was lost that shallow-water ocean species lost their habitat; the interior of the huge continent was a vast desert because it was so far away from moisture, and the ocean currents were totally changed, which disrupted climate and temperatures for both aquatic and terrestrial animals.

Those were all undoubtedly contributing factors, but I was under the impression that a meteor impact had been found for this one, also? Sometime in the mid-90's or so? That of course could have triggered extreme volcanic activity.

[guardian]

4. So now the major atmospheric output from volcanoes is coal ash?

Silly me. I thought the major output of volcanoes was water vapor, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and other aerosols. But low and behold, this GW doomer professor discovers COAL is the problem. Makes about as much sense as an anti-nuke activist claiming the major output of volcanoes is uranium-238.

This is an obvious attempt by some nutball doomer professor to use the mask of 'science' to promote his GW faith. I bet the conclusion of his next GW grant research will be that Krakatoa and Mt. St. Helens major output was incandescent light bulbs and non-Fair Trade coffee...or something else he doesn't like.

But don't worry...the 'science' is settled.

With baited breath I await someone to chime in with the opinion of famed cartoonist Peter Jacques. Or even better will be a post using the end all be all scientific supporting argument of "yup".

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Is that really what you think it says? "the major atmospheric output from volcanoes is coal ash"?

Really?

Is that really how your mind works?

Your mind can take "massive volcanic eruptions through coal beds" and change that into "the major atmospheric output from volcanoes is coal ash"?

If that is your genuine comprehension, then I'll simplify what it actually says: the flood basalts set fire to coal.

There, that wasn't hard, was it?

[NickB79]

7. I can see how you'd think that, if you knew nothing about geology or science in general

Most major coal beds were laid down during the Carboniferous period, approximately 350 million years ago.

The Permian extinction took place 100 million years after that, when massive amounts of coal had already been formed and huge amounts of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere (the Carboniferous era atmosphere had 1500 ppm CO2!). It would appear from the evidence found so far that, via plate tectonics, several VERY large coal beds passed over a geological hot spot where volcanism was taking place. As the magma welled up, it passed through and ignited gigatons of coal, essentially creating the mother of all underground fires. As the volcanoes broke through, they would have spewed not only their usual outputs, but also the ash of the burnt coal below. It would have been like what we still see in the Appalachians where humans have ignited coal veins, but on a scale that has never been seen since.

But please, enlighten us. Where did the fossilized coal ash come from, in your opinion?

[snagglepuss]

8. Silly is an understatement. You are utterly uninformed yet spewing nonsense

Your post clearly indicates you have no idea what you are talking about. Had you bothered to read anything you would at the very least know the basic points:

snip

The likely culprits for these eruptions are the Siberian Traps, a massive range of volcanoes in far eastern Russia that covers a total landmass greater than that of Europe. These volcanoes are located beneath massive coal deposits, meaning any substantial eruption would blast huge amounts of burning coal into the atmosphere. When these volcanoes went off 250 million years ago, they set off a coal-fueled chain reaction that created huge amounts of greenhouse gases, causing runaway global warming.

Grasby says the soot and ash produced in these explosions was more or less identical to that created by modern coal power plants, although obviously on a far greater order of magnitude. He explains that greenhouse gases weren't even the only problem created by these massive eruptions:

"Our discovery provides the first direct confirmation for coal ash during this extinction as it may not have been recognized before. It was a really bad time on Earth. In addition to these volcanoes causing fires through coal, the ash it spewed was highly toxic and was released in the land and water, potentially contributing to the worst extinction event in earth history."


http://io9.com/5741163/how-massive-volcanic-eruptions-flying-coal-and-supercharged-greenhouse-gases-almost-wiped-out-life-on-earth

[Odin2005]

9. Wow, did you even READ the damn article? The volcano cause coal deposits to burn up.

[jpak]

10. What a stupid post

yup!

:rofl:

[pscot]

6. Yup!