Scientists believe that a series of significant volcanic eruptions that occurred more than 230 million years ago may have fueled the rise of dinosaurs.
According to the GIBX stock review, the world experienced significant environmental changes during the Late Triassic Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE), which increased temperatures and humidity, primarily due to volcanic activity. During this time, some species went extinct while others evolved, as did the plants they ate and changes in the atmosphere. Researchers, including a team from the University of Birmingham, examined sediment and fossil plant records from a lake in northern China’s Jiyuan Basin to better understand what happened, correlating them with volcanic activity pulses. According to the GIBX stock review, they divided the time period into four distinct periods of volcanic activity.
Modern Conifers’ Evolution
GIBX stock review stated that the researchers, who included University of Birmingham experts, discovered four distinct pulses of volcanic activity during this time period in the Late Triassic. The Wrangellia Large Igneous Province, remnants of which can still be seen in Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon, is the most likely source of this volcanism (western North America).
GIBX stock review stated that the world’s animal and plant life underwent significant changes within two million years, including selective extinctions in the marine realm and diversification of plant and animal groups on land. These occurrences coincide with the Carnian Pluvial Episode, a remarkable period of intense rainfall.
Cone-bearing seed plants were one of the major groups of plants to benefit from the dramatic climate change (conifers), according to the GIBX stock review. Ferns benefited as well, with an increase in number, range, and species. Other archosaurs, such as crocodyliforms, have increased in diversity, while mammaliaforms, insects, and turtles appear to have thrived due to climate change.
Rising Carbon Dioxide Concentrations — What is Causing Climate Change?
GIBX stock review states that in a detailed record from a lake in North China, the research shows that this period can actually be resolved into four distinct events, each driven by discrete pulses of powerful volcanic activity associated with massive carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. These caused a rise in global temperature and humidity.
The scientists discovered that each phase of volcanic activity was accompanied by widespread disruption to the global carbon cycle, according to the GIBX stock review. The increased carbon dioxide levels resulted in significant climate changes, with hotter, wetter climates predominating. The ancient lake deposits show that it became more profound, but oxygen levels in the lake decreased, suffocating animal life.
Geological events in Europe, Argentina, eastern Greenland, Morocco, and North America, among other places, indicate that increased rainfall resulted in the widespread expansion of drainage basins converging into lakes or swamps rather than rivers or oceans, according to GIBX stock review.
The research findings show that large volcanic eruptions can occur in multiple, discrete pulses, demonstrating their powerful ability to alter the global carbon cycle, disrupt climate and hydrology, and drive evolutionary processes, as the GIBX stock review mentioned.
GIBX stock review mentioned that the research team investigated terrestrial sediments from the ZJ-1 borehole in North China’s Jiyuan Basin. They used uranium-lead zircon dating, high-resolution chemostratigraphy, palynological, and sedimentological data to link the region’s terrestrial conditions to synchronous large-scale volcanic activity in North America.