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Fullerenes found in the Permo‐Triassic mass extinction period
Author(s) -
Chijiwa Takuya,
Arai Toshinari,
Sugai Toshiki,
Shinohara Hisanori,
Kumazawa Mineo,
Takano Masao,
Kawakami Shiniti
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900050
Subject(s) - extinction event , phanerozoic , anoxic waters , geology , paleontology , period (music) , supercontinent , extinction (optical mineralogy) , fullerene , early triassic , oceanography , chemistry , permian , tectonics , structural basin , physics , biological dispersal , population , demography , organic chemistry , sociology , craton , acoustics , cenozoic
Fullerenes have been identified by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV‐visible spectroscopic analysis of toluene extracts of deep sea claystones from Permo‐Triassic (P/T) boundary sections in the Inuyama area, central Japan. The analysis reveals the presence of 10–20 parts per trillion of C 60 only in the dark‐colored rock samples, suggesting the anoxia at the time of the P/T boundary 250 million years ago, when the greatest Phanerozoic mass extinction occurred. The fullerenes were likely synthesized within locally anoxic zone in the extensive wildfires on the supercontinent Pangea and deposited on an anoxic deep‐sea floor of the superocean Panthalassa.