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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I noted the Green PR machine had had its brief changed to include and emphasise mercury from coal.
I suspect that this is ‘retaliation’ for the terrible drubbing Greenies have been getting for promoting mercury filled light bulbs.
Doesn’t matter what the truth is…they are firefighting on all fronts.
Think of a playground argument.
Your light bulbs are full of mercury.
Well your coal fired power stations are producing mercury…so yah boo…sucks to you!
A fascinating exchange.
I seem to recall that CO2 was at a low point prior to that extinction. Also, there is evidence of lots of fungal growth leading up to it and even more during it. Where is the sweet spot for CO2, exactly? Anyone who claims to know this is a liar.
Release of mercury along with hydrocarbons would result in stable/non-reactive forms of mercury compounds.
“releasing CO2 and other deadly toxins”
CO2 is a deadly toxin? who knew, it’s a miracle that we all exhale CO2 yet still live.
@ur momisugly AnonyMoose
“No, not deaf. Daft!” said the white rabbit to the mouse, er…moose.
page488 says: “…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….”
It was not mercury but mercurous chloride that was used as a laxative. I don’t recall any direct evidence that it killed anybody, but it was discontinued on general principles, given that there were a number of alternatives.
My father had a patient who died of severe intestinal perforation. There was no way to prove it, but my father always believed that the man had been poisoned by mercuric chloride (or similar compound) contained in a box of candy sent by a former girlfriend. A tragic case.
I heard that the mercury vapor concentration directly above the floor in UCLA chemistry labs reached toxic levels as a result of miscellaneous spills, broken thermometers, mercury manometers, etc. Again, no fatalities known to me.
So if high mercury levels caused a mass die off – then where are all the fossils of deformed/mutated plants and anumals from that period?
I recalled correctly, assuming Geocarb3 has any merit. Now the scary thing is, approaching the P/T boundary levels were possibly on par with what they are today (< 500 ppm). There are only two segments of Earth history where it appears it was below 500 ppm (let alone, below 1000 ppm) – the Permian, and, the late Triassic to present. YIKES!
In other words, the herd are worrying about the wrong thing. It is not increasing CO2 levels that should worry us, it is being below 500 or even 1000 ppm. This may be a highly unstable state, one which could easily incite a mass die off of photosynthesis driven organisms. It would seem that the biosphere may actually be in a marginal and dangerous state at such a low CO2 level.
The radical greens are nothing if not consistent. According to them the only meaningful arbiter of an idea’s truth is its utility. This story I predict will have legs because of how useful it is in blaming coal for a whole litany of evils.
Wow, this thing is so full of holes a Mad Hatter could drive a semi through it. Coal, especially in the New World began forming from peat a little under 300 million years ago.
Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar (mercuric sulfide). The red pigment vermilion is mostly obtained by reduction from cinnabar. Cinnabar is highly toxic by ingestion or inhalation of the dust. Mercury poisoning can also result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury (such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury), inhalation of mercury vapor, or eating seafood contaminated with mercury.
Roasted cinnabar in abandoned mercury mines is a serious health danger, but all of these things require the intervention of a rational, thinking creature to extract it, compound it, or refine it in order to bring it to lethal levels.
“… 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.”
Qe?
Thank you page488! Very lucid recounting. While I have no problem with less mercury being in my environment I’m quite certain Mr Watts is on to something. Now that CO2 is fading as a “serious threat” they (environazis) do need a new horse for this race. The old CO2 one is being flogged even though all life signs ceased a while back. Fishing expedition? Perhaps.
I am concerned about real pollutants like mercury as it can be proven without a doubt to cause problems when in certain forms and dosages. It can also be used safely but is serious business. Anyone who glibly brushes it off can have my share.
RE: George Smith, “Does anybody out there know, or know of, anybody who ever died from Mercury poisoning.”
1. The residents of Minamata
2. Newton was loaded with the stuff. Massive amounts were found in his body after death. At least they waited until he was mad as a hatter before electing him to parliament.
RE: jorgekafkazar says: “It was not mercury but mercurous chloride that was used as a laxative.”
Actually, pure mercury mixed with only sugar was used as a laxative a long time ago.
Regarding mercury poisoning … it has a number of extremely unpleasant effects on the nervous system. Half a century ago, many residents of the Japanese town of Minamata were poisoned by ingesting inorganic methyl-mercury, which was being discharged from a seaside industrial plant and accumulating in local fish.
There’s also a nightmarish story I heard a few years ago and unfortunately can’t relocate, of a research doctor or lab tech who had a lab accident and absorbed some mercury through her skin. It killed her … eventually, slowly, and very painfully.
On the subject of the Permo-Triassic extinction: I echo the skepticism over this latest “cause of the extinction.” In twenty years of following paleontology I’ve seen dozens of explanations offered for mass extinctions — usually the K-T extinction, but in recent years the others have gotten more attention. Most of these ‘explanations’ are Just-So stories with little or no direct evidence. Looking for one cause of a mass extinction – any mass extinction – is IMHO no more likely to be successful than is looking for one cause for cancer, or one source of climate change. There were certainly many factors at work, including some we don’t yet know about.
“”””” AnonyMoose says:
January 5, 2012 at 5:47 pm
George E. Smith: “Never heard of anybody even getting sick.”
So mercury made you deaf? “””””
Well Moose, if cutting all four legs off bullfrogs makes therm stone deaf, so they won’t jump no matter how loud you holler at them; then I figure it might have been that Mercury, that made me deaf.
Now I remember that that was also when I decided to make myself a collection of ALL of the 92 then known elements; I figured, I could just seal each of the samples in small glass tubes, sealed at both ends (about 1/8th inch dia.)
Now encapsulating a bit of #8 Copper wire, and aluminium wire, was a piece of cake, but when I tried to seal off the other end of the tube full of Mercury, with a Bunsen burner, the damn stuff kept boiling, and blowing out the end of the tube. Maybe that’s why I am half daft now.
In any case my teeth are full of fillings of fulminate of Mercury or some such, and just today, my dentist said he could replace them with some cheapo plastic stuff, that just looks like teeth. I figure I won’t last another 1/4 century, with those poisonous teeth, so I may take him up on the exchange.
The volcanism at the end of the Permian was far larger, far longer, far more extensive, and far more violent than anything like it since. It happened over hundreds of thousands of years, maybe more. (It is no coincidence that the continents were all together-suggesting unstable mantle-convection-crustal relationships when most of the continental plates are all together). But if it takes that much volcanism, that long, to do that kind of damage, then why are we worried about ~100 years of SUV exhaust?, and some rather tiny ‘carbon volcanoes’ (ie coal fired power stations).
As for mercury, it doesn’t turn the rocks red, which they are at the end of the Permian in NSW, as well as the Karoo in South Africa-indicating hothouse conditions. Mercury wasnt the main cause, heat was, and over a very long time period, not some puny few hundred years of human coal burning with a little mercury.
You have to wonder when people who talk about the extinction of 95% of species make statements like this:
“,,,,,,,,releasing CO2 and other deadly toxins……..”
CO2 is a deadly toxin? I guess they skipped a few classes on plant biology so they could attend EPA press conferences.
“”””” Dr K.A. Rodgers says:
January 5, 2012 at 7:27 pm
RE: George Smith, “Does anybody out there know, or know of, anybody who ever died from Mercury poisoning.”
1. The residents of Minamata
2. Newton was loaded with the stuff. Massive amounts were found in his body after death. At least they waited until he was mad as a hatter before electing him to parliament. “””””
Well I’ve never heard of the people of Minamata, so maybe all their death certificates do say they died from Mercury poisoning, and are no longer with us. I wonder why my Doctors, when I was a kid, used to administer a toxic does of Mercurchrome, every time I scuffed up my knee or big toe.
So does Newton’s death certificate say he died from Mercury poisoning; maybe that’s why Obama wants us all to switch to Mercury fluorescent lamps. Why don’t they use a different source of ultra-violent radiation, instead of Mercury, if people are so worried about it.
Well it seems that the Minimata people were poisoned by Methyl Mercury.
I only played around with elemental Mercury. Seems like lead poisoning is about the same; putting a lead sinker on your fishing line won’t kill either you or the fish, but if you chew on White Lead Oxide painted stuff, it might harm you.
Gallium Arsenide doesn’t seem to be too obnoxious either, but Arsenic is not good for you, although some living things can thrive on the stuff.
I’m pretty sure that Polonium 210 is not good for you.
I understand the Siberian Traps were the site of massive volcanic eruptions and lava flows for up to one million years. If that’s the case I’ll bet mercury poisoning was the least of the earth’s living organisms worries!
Beauchamp, a competent Canadian arctic geologist is riding a fine line these days… the moment he crosses to advocacy his career might do well but his reputation not so much. Good luck Benoit!
I am no scientist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. And even though I am not a scientist, I don’t think I am a dummy, I remember a few things from my high school chemistry class. Either the report is nonsensical or they are just very sloppy with their language. The article says the extinction may have been caused by “an influx of mercury into the eco-system”. Well isn’t mercury an element? Doesn’t the same amount exist today as existed a billion years ago? Is the universe creating more? Is it being imported from other planets?
Maybe they don’t mean elemental mercury, maybe they mean mercury alloys and compunds, but then why don’t they be specific and say that. And besides are there any more of those than in the past? And if it is one of the compounds of mercury, heaven’t they all been around a long time in roughly the same quantities?
I don’t get it.
wolfwalker says:
January 5, 2012 at 7:42 pm
“There’s also a nightmarish story I heard a few years ago and unfortunately can’t relocate, of a research doctor ”
“Karen Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 – June 8, 1997) was a well-known professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She made national headlines when mercury poisoning claimed her life at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the organic mercury compound dimethylmercury (Hg(CH3)2). She was the Albert Bradley Third Century Professor in the Sciences at Dartmouth College.” per wikipedia
http://www.iaomt.org/testfoundation/dimethylmercury.htm
The scientist was Karen Wetterhahn, the compound was dimethylmercury, which is about as toxic as toxic gets.
Karen was a well respected research scientist in the field of metal toxicology at Dartmouth.
I’m surprised no one here remembers Pink’s Disease or “acrodynia” which affected 1 in 500 infants exposed to teething powders containing mercury.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21797771