SHRIMP zircon U-Pb ages from coal beds across the Permian-Triassic boundary, eastern Yunnan, southwestern China

The first SHRIMP zircon U e Pb ages from coal beds close to the end-Permian mass extinction are reported from the Ccoal seam in the Yantang Mine in Laibin Town, Xuanwei County, eastern Yunnan Province.Zircons were extracted from kaolinite claystone layers, defined as tonsteins(volcanic ash deposits), in the subseam Band Bof the coal seam C.The U-Pb ages are 252.0 ± 2.3 Ma and 250.3 ± 2.1 Ma for the sub-seam Band B, respectively. Within analytical uncertainties, these U-Pb ages include the time period of the onset of the mass extinction at 251.941 ± 0.037 Ma, which was obtained from the marine Meishan section in Zhejiang Province, ~1600 km away from the Yantang Mine. These new ages represent not only the first and closest ages to the PTB mass extinction in terrestrial coal beds, but also ages from the nearest site to the Emeishan volcanoes investigated so far. Therefore these new data provide the most accurate stratigraphic horizon of terrestrial facies of the end-Permian extinction in South China. The Emeishan volcanoes were likely the source of volcanic ash in the coal seams at the Xuanwei County and broader areas in South China. Furthermore, the minerals and geochemistry characteristics of the Ccoal seam also implied the influences of contemporaneous volcanic activities.

Using geophysical logs to identify Milankovitch cycles and to calculate net primary productivity(NPP) of the Late Permian coals,western Guizhou,China

Milankovitch periodicities of 123 kyr(eccentricity), 35.6 kyr(obliquity), and 21.2 kyr(precession) were identified in geophysical logs of three Late Permian coals: 17#, 18#, and 17 + 18#, from the Songhe mining area in western Guizhou Province. Based on the astronomic temporal framework, the periods of deposition of the 17#(5.6 m), 18#(6.4 m), and 17 + 18#(5.4 m) coals were constrained to 140.8–119.8 kyr, 160–136.2 kyr, and 135–114.9 kyr,respectively. The overall depositional period of the 18# coal of 160–136.2 kyr was further subdivided using the wavelet analysis method, into short and precise periods corresponding to the Milankovitch periodicities. It includes one eccentricity periodicity(123 kyr), three obliquity periodicities(35.6 kyr), and five precession periodicities(21.2 kyr). Different thicknesses of the subdivided coal sections, equivalent to the same time span of deposition, indicate different rates of coal deposition, i.e., thicker sections imply higher rates while the thinner sections represent lower rates. The combination of the measured average carbon concentration with the density of the coals gave rise to long-term average values of carbon accumulation rates for the Late Permian coals, in the range of 42.4–50.6 g?C?m^(-2)?a^(-1). This range corresponds to the long-term average carbon accumulation rates for the initial peat in the range of 60.6–72.3 g?C?m^(-2)?a^(-1). Based on the known quantitative relation between net primary productivity(NPP)values and long-term average carbon accumulation rates for the Holocene tropical peatlands, the range of NPP values for the Late Permian tropical peatlands was estimated as 242.4–433.8 g?C?m^(-2)?a^(-1).A comparison of existing information about peatland NPP levels of various ages and latitudes indicated that when conditions of high rain and high humidity prevail in the palaeo-peatland at given latitude, the NPP rates will vary with changes in atmospheric concentration of CO_2 and O_2. This relationship may lead to the use of coals as an indicator for the concentration of these gases(CO_2 and O_2) in the contemporaneous atmosphere encompassing the long records of coal deposition.