PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shen, Shu-zhong
AU  - Crowley, James L.
AU  - Wang, Yue
AU  - Bowring, Samuel A.
AU  - Erwin, Douglas H.
AU  - Sadler, Peter M.
AU  - Cao, Chang-qun
AU  - Rothman, Daniel H.
AU  - Henderson, Charles M.
AU  - Ramezani, Jahandar
AU  - Zhang, Hua
AU  - Shen, Yanan
AU  - Wang, Xiang-dong
AU  - Wang, Wei
AU  - Mu, Lin
AU  - Li, Wen-zhong
AU  - Tang, Yue-gang
AU  - Liu, Xiao-lei
AU  - Liu, Lu-jun
AU  - Zeng, Yong
AU  - Jiang, Yao-fa
AU  - Jin, Yu-gan
TI  - Calibrating the End-Permian Mass Extinction
AID  - 10.1126/science.1213454
DP  - 2011 Dec 09
TA  - Science
PG  - 1367--1372
VI  - 334
IP  - 6061
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1367.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1367.full
SO  - Science2011 Dec 09; 334
AB  - The end-Permian mass extinction was the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth history. To better constrain the timing, and ultimately the causes of this event, we collected a suite of geochronologic, isotopic, and biostratigraphic data on several well-preserved sedimentary sections in South China. High-precision U-Pb dating reveals that the extinction peak occurred just before 252.28 ± 0.08 million years ago, after a decline of 2 per mil (‰) in δ13C over 90,000 years, and coincided with a δ13C excursion of −5‰ that is estimated to have lasted ≤20,000 years. The extinction interval was less than 200,000 years and synchronous in marine and terrestrial realms; associated charcoal-rich and soot-bearing layers indicate widespread wildfires on land. A massive release of thermogenic carbon dioxide and/or methane may have caused the catastrophic extinction.