Jakarta –
Microbes The tiny belch that spouted toxic gases helped cause and prolong the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history. This is according to the results of a recent study.
Generally, scientists believe Siberian volcanoes spewing greenhouse gases were the main cause of the mass extinction event some 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period.
These gases cause extreme warming, which in turn causes 80% of all marine species, as well as many terrestrial species, to become extinct.
Until now, scientists have not been able to explain exactly how the heat caused the extinction. A new study, led by UC Riverside in Nature Geoscience, shows that heat accelerates microbial metabolism, creating deadly conditions.
“After oxygen in the ocean is used to decompose organic matter, microbes begin to ‘breathe’ sulfate and produce hydrogen sulfide, a gas that smells like rotten eggs and is toxic to animals,” said UC Riverside Earth system modeler Dominik Hülse. Scitechdaily.
As marine photosynthesis, the microbes and plants that form the basis of the food chain decompose, other microbes quickly consume oxygen and leave less oxygen for larger organisms.
In the absence of oxygen, microbes consume the sulfate and then excrete the toxic, smelly hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, creating a more extreme condition called euxinia.
This condition is sustained by the release of nutrients during decomposition, encouraging the production of more organic matter that helps maintain this cycle of toxic and odors.
“Our research shows that the entire ocean is not euxiconic. These conditions begin in the deeper parts of the water column,” Hülse said.
“As temperatures increase, the euxinic zone becomes larger, more toxic, and rises up the water column into a shelf environment where most marine animals live poisoning them.”
Extensive euxinic zones can be detected by chemical signatures in sediment samples. Oxygen depletion is a continuing problem today, and is sure to get worse under future climate change.
Euxinic waters can be found in places like Los Angeles County’s 16-mile-long Dominguez Channel, where a warehouse fire in September 2021 released ethanol.
Ethanol kills vegetation in the canal, which decomposes and is consumed by microbes. They then produce hydrogen sulfide at toxic levels. Thousands of people breathing in the foul-smelling river reported vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, insomnia, headaches, sneezing and other symptoms.
Lessons from the ancient world may be important for understanding the processes that challenge our modern oceans and waterways.
“It would be speculative to place an ancient mass extinction event on Earth today. However, this study shows us that the ocean’s response to concentration carbon dioxide higher in the atmosphere may be underestimated,” Hülse said.
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