科学前沿

Climate breakdown driven by massive volcanic eruptions was the likely cause of the terrestrial Permian–Triassic mass extinction (ca. 252 Ma). However, establishing the relationship between climate factors and terrestrial ecosystem responses is difficult. Furthermore, it is unclear if the pattern and timing of the terrestrial ecosystem crises are consistent across different regions. Our integrated paleontology and geochemistry study indicates that the onset of the terrestrial crisis in North China preceded that in South China by at least 300 k.y. Geological and Earth system modeling suggest that lethal heatwaves and aridity, along with enhanced climate seasonality, were caused by higher atmospheric CO₂. The onset of these environmental changes varied regionally and were likely responsible for the diachronous terrestrial crisis. Our results indicate that, rather than a globally synchronous event, cumulative regional extirpations ultimately resulted in a global terrestrial extinction.