252 million years ago, the volcanic eruption in modern Siberia ejected 100 trillion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over a million years. This natural disaster, known as the “Great Death”, killed most of the animals on Earth. New research shows that it has also greatly changed the planet's ecosystem.
A team of international researchers used climate models and plant fossils to link death's dying to a rise in 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Their work details insights on how human CO2 emissions significantly change the planet in a study published Tuesday in the journal Geoscience.
The researchers focused on five periods, including part of the Permian and Triassic periods: Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian in the Permian, and Induan, Olenekian and Anisian in the Triassic. The huge dying marks the transition from the Permian to the Triassic period and is therefore commonly referred to as the mass extinction or the Permian Triassic boundary of the Permian Triassic. If the Triassic sounds familiar, it is because this is the period when dinosaurs are on the rise, and the ancestors of dinosaurs survived.
“Life on Earth must adapt to the repetitive changes in climate and carbon cycles, millions of years after the Permian Triassic boundary,” lead author Maura Brunetti is a researcher at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Geneva.
Brunetti and her colleagues estimate that plant fossils and computer model simulations were analyzed at different temperatures and CO2 levels, and then cross-referenced their results to estimate changes in six different biomes (different ecological habitats) over the aforementioned time periods. Bioareas include tropical Everwater biome (hot and humid), seasonal tropical or temperate biome (volatile conditions), and desert biome (dry).
Broadly speaking, the researchers revealed that the Permian period was cold, the Indians were not clear (more research needed), while the Orenicians and Anisians were much hotter. “The transition from colder climatic states to hotter states is marked by an increase of approximately 10°C. [18 degrees Fahrenheit] In the average global surface air temperature,” Brunetti explained. This is consistent with the large amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by the volcanic eruption – the higher the level of carbon dioxide, the warmer and wetter the earth.
Not surprisingly, the researchers found that the biome changed a lot during this transition period. “The tropical Evervit and Somervit biomes appeared in the tropical areas, replacing desert-like landscapes,” Brunetti continued. “At the same time, temperate temperate biomes turned to polar regions, resulting in the complete disappearance of the tundra ecosystem.” In short, the desert near the equator turned into a tropical and cold tundra landscape, closer to the poles.
Brunetti added that “changes in vegetation covers can be associated with dumping mechanisms between stable climate periods or irreversible transfers between stable climate periods, creating a potential framework to “understand the tilt behavior in the climate system in response to the current increase in carbon dioxide”. “If this increase continues at the same rate, we will reach emission levels that lead to the mass extinction of the Permian Triassic, about 2,700 years, which is faster than the Permian-Triassic border. ”
Although researchers warn that more research is needed to confirm its results, the study can be interpreted as a stark warning that sustained human CO2 emissions may be greater than a huge dying in the long run.
