[Explanation] On November 19, a reporter from China News Service learned from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, that after years of cooperation between domestic and foreign research teams, scientists discovered that large-scale acidic volcanic eruptions around South China were also important for the end-Permian mass extinction. Incentives and "murderers".
[Explanation] The study puts forward that 252 million years ago, the environmental disaster caused by the acidic volcanic eruption of the continental magma arc in the Tethys Ocean and around the Pan-Continent was far beyond previous understanding.
Zhang Hua, a researcher involved in this study, believes that previous studies have attributed the explanation of the extinction to the basic volcanic eruption in the Great Igneous Province of Siberia, which led to the release of a large amount of greenhouse gases and rapid heating, seawater acidification and lack of oxygen. The acidic volcanism in the Tethys Ocean and other regions is usually underestimated or even ignored.
[Concurrent] Zhang Hua, Researcher, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
This acidic volcanic eruption in the continental (magma) arc in the Tethys Ocean and the periphery of the pan-continent had a significant impact on the mass extinction of organisms at the end of the Permian, (but) does not deny the Siberian Igneous Province (volcanic eruption), Contribution to the end-Permian mass extinction.
[Explanation] The Late Paleozoic team led by Academician Shen Shuzhong of Nanjing University and Researcher Zhang Hua of Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and domestic and foreign collaborators have proven through many years of research that the volcanic copper-rich minerals and the combustion products of terrestrial vegetation can be simultaneously enriched and preserved. Reflecting that large-scale volcanic eruptions have led to the prevalence of terrestrial forest fires and destroyed terrestrial vegetation systems; large amounts of sulfur-rich aerosols released by volcanoes penetrate the troposphere and remain in the stratosphere, which may lead to a global "volcanic winter" on the scale of hundreds to thousands of years. This rapid cooling and subsequent rapid heating may be more deadly than the long-term gradual heating caused by volcanism.
[Concurrent] Zhang Hua, Researcher, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
These volcanic eruptions produce a large amount of sulfur dioxide and sulfide. If this sulfide exists in the form of aerosol, it will penetrate the earth’s troposphere and reach the stratosphere. After reaching the stratosphere, it will remain relatively stable in the stratosphere. For a period of time, it was difficult for the sun to shine on the earth, causing the effect of "volcanic winter".
It can cause a temperature drop of 4 degrees Celsius in a short period of time. This kind of rapid cooling and rapid heating may have a more serious impact on life on earth than the "greenhouse effect" brought about by volcanic eruptions that we previously thought.
[Explanation] The research was jointly completed by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanjing University, and was published online in the internationally renowned journal "Science Progress".
Reporter Ge Yong reports from Nanjing, Jiangsu
Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]