Hmmm. This sounds a bit like a sales pitch against “dirty coal” in support of the recent EPA Mercury ruling instead of regular geological research. I question this research claim because they only have evidence that there were spikes of Mercury during those events, not that they caused or accelerated the extinctions. The PR states: “they have discovered a new culprit likely involved in the annihilation…” but that’s an assumption on their part. Further, no one has a good handle (though they claim volcanoes set coal beds on fire) on what actually caused the PT extinction event. A number of theories on what caused the PT event abound, and the science is not settled.
From the University of Calgary
Earth’s massive extinction: The story gets worse
New finding on mercury-volcanic link could re-write history on past annihilations
Scientists have uncovered a lot about the Earth’s greatest extinction event that took place 250 million years ago when rapid climate change wiped out nearly all marine species and a majority of those on land. Now, they have discovered a new culprit likely involved in the annihilation: an influx of mercury into the eco-system.
“No one had ever looked to see if mercury was a potential culprit. This was a time of the greatest volcanic activity in Earth’s history and we know today that the largest source of mercury comes from volcanic eruptions,” says Dr. Steve Grasby, co-author of a paper published this month in the journal Geology. “We estimate that the mercury released then could have been up to 30 times greater than today’s volcanic activity, making the event truly catastrophic.”
Grasby is a research scientist at Natural Resources Canada and an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Benoit Beauchamp, professor of geology at the University of Calgary, says this study is significant because it’s the first time mercury has been linked to the cause of the massive extinction that took place during the end of the Permian.
“Geologists, including myself should be taking notes and taking another look at the other five big extinction events,” says Beauchamp, also a co-author.
During the late Permian, the natural buffering system in the ocean became overloaded with mercury contributing to the loss of 95 per cent of life in the sea.
“Typically, algae acts like a scavenger and buries the mercury in the sediment, mitigating the effect in the oceans,” says lead-author Dr. Hamed Sanei, research scientist at Natural Resources Canada and adjunct professor at the University of Calgary. “But in this case, the load was just so huge that it could not stop the damage.”
About 250 million years ago, a time long before dinosaurs ruled and when all land formed one big continent, the majority of life in the ocean and on land was wiped out. The generally accepted idea is that volcanic eruptions burned though coal beds, releasing CO2 and other deadly toxins. Direct proof of this theory was outlined in a paper that was published by these same authors last January in Nature Geoscience.
The mercury deposition rates could have been significantly higher in the late Permian when compared with today’s human-caused emissions. In some cases, levels of mercury in the late Permian ocean was similar to what is found near highly contaminated ponds near smelters, where the aquatic system is severely damaged, say researchers.
“We are adding to the levels through industrial emissions. This is a warning for us here on Earth today,” adds Beauchamp. Canada has taken a lead role in reducing emissions internationally. In North America, at least, there has been a steady decline through regulations controlling mercury.
No matter what happens, this study shows life’s tenacity. “The story is one of recovery as well. After the system was overloaded and most of life was destroyed, the oceans were still able to self clean and we were able to move on to the next phase of life,” says Sanei.
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“but that’s an assumption on their part”
AKA speculation. As in scientists speculating with inadequate or non-existent evidence, and expsecting everyone to accept it, just because the are scientists.
You pegged it, Anthony. When they act like scientists, we will treat them with respect. If not… there is such a thing as skepticism.
Hey, we found a rock at the PT boundary! Stop the presses! All the animals died from a rock fight! /snarc
Maybe the dental amalgam from all the dead and decaying dinosaurs caused the mercury to spike ? They should have had them removed……
Kevin
The takeaway is stop volcanoes now. With just a simple regulation by the EPA these damnable features of the Earth could be wiped out.
Unfortunately, what is coal today were the plants that were living during that period. They were not coal and were green growing in a very heated earth environment due to the star we call our sun in a very robust, warming period. Those plants became what is coal today. Mercury was a natural occuring element back then as it is today. I would bet there is only a finite amount of mercury on the planet yet today and no new mercury is being made, but I could be wrong.
They have to be kidding. Are we to believe that all this myriad of life developed on earth through massive volcanism, and other geologic change, and then suddenly the volcanoes got to the Mercury mines, and started spewing out Mercury, to wipe out life.
Does anybody out there know, or know of, anybody who ever died from Mercury poisoning. I used to play with pounds of raw liquid Mercury when I was a lab assistant in high school. spilled a good bit of it on the wooden floor and plenty disappeared down into cracks between the T&G floor boards.
Never heard of anybody even getting sick.
David Larsen says:
January 5, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Mercury is made in supernovae.
I have always suspected that the mass suicide of all the dinosaurs probably attracted a big rock from outer space and caused it to fall on the planet….
Isn’t releasing the mercury in coal just the restoration of the natural environment of the Earth?
If we were able to go back to the end of Permian and walk the landscape- I don’t think we would have required AA spectrophotometry analyses to know life was in real danger. The Siberian Traps would have been difficult to ignore. Additionally, the end of Permian extinction killed 90% of the life forms on earth- above and below the water surface. And required some 30 million years before life was able to kick back into high gear. Hard to believe mercury describes the totality of this terrestrial and aquatic devastation. (This wasn’t your World Wildlife Federation type of extinction event- the end of Permian saw nearly 60% of all families disappear.)
I’m not sure how the “huge load” makes it more difficult for the mercury to be recycled to the sediments. The abundance of sulfides and H2SO4 should also have expedited bacterial mediated precipitation in addition to algae. There are any number of other precipitation chemistries.
My bet is that as soon as the new mercury rules pass from political view – we’ll return to the methane clathrate scare or CO2 scare as the end of Permian Morality Tale. This is classic Regulatory inspired just in time research.
“About 250 million years ago, a time long before dinosaurs ruled and when all land formed one big continent, the majority of life in the ocean and on land was wiped out. The generally accepted idea is that volcanic eruptions burned though coal beds, releasing CO2 and other deadly toxins. ”
So CO2 is a deadly toxin for these “scientists”? Interesting. Yesterday I drove through heavy showers of deadly dihydrogenmonoxid raining from the sky, probably acidic. Only my car prevented me from suffocating while simultaneously being dissolved.
George E. Smith: “Never heard of anybody even getting sick.”
So mercury made you deaf?
I like the implication of natural “mitigation”, a word that has become rather toxic in recent times around climate change. And notice that ‘climate change’ was smuggled in as a cause, once again.
A well placed large rocky body from space could toss all kinds of stressful molecules, elements and compounds into the air, especially if one hit an early vast coal deposit. Such an impact would create a very deadly climate changing event, even agitating volcanoes as well. The mercury released would be either also deadly or just incidental. But all told, a very unpleasant day.
Hits Happen.
What if all the mercury escapes from all the Algole CFL lightbulbs…at once like in a big earthquake or something? What no danger from ‘ManBearPig’ lightbulbs? Ignore the EPA warnings?
I have know clue about this stuff, just being Silly Goose…but that sounds too feminine…but then again Bambi was a buck…see what I mean?
RE: George Smith, “Does anybody out there know, or know of, anybody who ever died from Mercury poisoning.”
Actually, yes, in three ways, but it is usually from mercury vapor.
1 – Dentists used to use a device called an amalgamtor (sp?) which violently shook together silver and mercury to make the amalgam with which they filled teeth (grey/silver looking fillings). Usually the dentists and/or their staff went nuts first. Patients were not usually effected because they were not around the vapors enough.
2 – Mercury gilding was a process used years ago to (guess what?) guild metals using mercury, gold and heat. Again, vapors to blame. Same scenario.
3- Everybody’s heard of the “Mad Hatter.” In past centuries, mercury was used in the production of felt. Hat-makes went crazy, then died.
Oh, and BTW, in past times people took mercury orally as a laxative. Taken that way it passes through the body without doing (much) harm
Not that any of this makes this new paper necessarily credible. Just some interesting trivia about mercury. LOL
Sounds like they’re trying to make cases for the repeal of the ban on incandescent light bulbs and perhaps a ban on CF light bulbs.
Gosh, does this mean that all these mercury-laden light bulbs we’re being forced to put in our homes might be a BAD idea?
So, dinosaurs burnt dirty coal, caused them to get sick and die…… because of the evil mercury they released. Ok, got that. Bastards probably drove SUVs, too!!! Serves them right!
Or, we could interpret this as, there is very little we can do about the freaking mercury. Natural processes put out more than what we can. Moreover, mercury isn’t a big issue. Nor will it be if we continue to burn coal in the same manner we have in the last 40 years!!!!
Or, maybe people are dying left and right from mercury poisoning and the gubment is keeping it a secret from all of us!!! My God! What a delusional, paranoid, scared of our own shadow, society we’ve become. This isn’t how it was intended for us to live.
George E. Smith; says:
January 5, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Never heard of anybody even getting sick.
Table salt is made from two deadly chemicals. Yet we feed it to defenseless children. Clearly we need to ban salt as well as mercury compounds. How many countless lives were saved over the years by Mercurochrome? Removed because of fear driven junk science:
“The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed it from the “generally recognized as safe” and into the “untested” classification to effectively halt its distribution in the United States in 1998 over fears of potential mercury poisoning.[3][4] It is readily available in most other countries.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merbromin
So they threw out all their CFLs at once?
….and exactly what are your plans when the sky falls
That explains all of the life that survived and continued evolving…..
…obviously a great resistance to mercury poisoning
So we’re all safe now…….
Mass extinction of fish, sharks, etc would release lots of mercury.
terrybixker, the trick is to relieve pressure gradually through frac’ing.
@ur momisugly James Sexton Loved the conspiracy theorist reference. Most anti-conspiracy theorists call climate change skeptics CTs…but that’s funny, considering that most are just ordinary people, LOL.
But indeed, what a shameful society.