Volcanically Driven Terrestrial Environmental Perturbations during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Eastern Tethys

Naveed Ur RAHMAN; Benzhong XIAN; Linhao FANG; Sirui CHEN; Peng CHEN; Zaheen ULLAH; Pengyu WANG

doi:10.1111/1755-6724.15167

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Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) ›› 2024, Vol. 98 ›› Issue (3) : 753-770. DOI: 10.1111/1755-6724.15167

Original Article

Volcanically Driven Terrestrial Environmental Perturbations during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Eastern Tethys

Naveed Ur RAHMAN¹^,² ,
Benzhong XIAN¹^,² ,
Linhao FANG¹^,² ,
Sirui CHEN¹^,² ,
Peng CHEN¹^,² ,
Zaheen ULLAH³ ,
Pengyu WANG¹^,²

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Abstract

The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) fingerprints global environmental perturbations and biological extinction on land and oceans and is potentially linked to the Wrangellia Large Igneous Province (LIP). However, the correlation between terrestrial environmental changes and Wrangellia volcanism in the Ordos Basin during the CPE remains poorly understood. Records of negative carbon isotopic excursions (NCIEs), mercury (Hg), Hg/TOC, and Hg enrichment factor (Hg_EF) from oil shales in a large-scale terrestrial Ordos Basin in the Eastern Tethys were correlated with marine and other terrestrial successions. The three significant NCIEs in the study section were consistently correlated with those in the CPE successions of Europe, the UK, and South and North China. The U-Pb geochronology indicates a Ladinian–Carnian age for the Chang 7 Member. A comprehensive overview of the geochronology, NCIE correlation, and previous bio- and chronostratigraphic frameworks shows that the Ladinian–Carnian boundary is located in the lower part of Chang 7 in the Yishicun section. Hg_EF may be a more reliable proxy for tracing volcanic eruptions than the Hg/TOC ratio because the accumulation rates of TOC content largely vary in terrestrial and marine successions. The records of Hg, Hg/TOC, Hg_EF, and NCIEs in the Ordos Basin aligned with Carnian successions worldwide and were marked by similar anomalies, indicating a global response to the Wrangellia LIP during the CPE. Anoxia, a warm-humid climate, enhancement of detrital input, and NCIEs are synchronous with the CPE interval in the Ordos Basin, which suggests that the CPE combined with the regional Qinling Orogeny should dominate the enhanced rate of terrigenous input and paleoenvironmental evolution in the Ordos Basin.

Keywords

Chang 7 Member / oil shale / Carnian Pluvial Episode / volcanism / environmental perturbations

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Naveed Ur RAHMAN, Benzhong XIAN, Linhao FANG, Sirui CHEN, Peng CHEN, Zaheen ULLAH, Pengyu WANG. Volcanically Driven Terrestrial Environmental Perturbations during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Eastern Tethys. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition), 2024, 98(3): 753‒770 https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-6724.15167