Title: Parallel trends in organic and inorganic carbon isotopes across the Permian/Triassic boundary
Abstract: Stable carbon isotope ratios in both inorganic and organic reservoirs have been widely applied to model environmental and sedimentological changes on a global scale. Most studies dealing with major extinction events have used the record of inorganic carbon. In this paper the authors report the relation between shifts in carbon-13 content of organic matter and coexisting carbonate fractions at a major extinction event, the Permian/Triassic boundary. They found that both [delta][sup 13]C[sub carb] and [delta][sup 13]C[sub org] of the surface ocean varied dramatically across the boundary, but the fractionation [Delta][sup 13]C between organic matter and carbonate remained constant. This result appreciably restricts the interpretation of changes in the carbon cycle during this critical interval. The new data are best explained by a combination of two mechanisms for variation in [delta][sup 13]C[sub carb]: (1) burial and erosion of organic carbon, with a long time constant; and (2) sequestration of organic carbon into shallow and deep oceanic reservoirs, with a shorter time constant. For application to their case, the first mechanism is limited by possible buildup of marine pCO[sub 2], which would increase the isotopic fractionation factor. The second mechanism is limited in application to short-term transient variations in [delta][sup 13]C. Modelingmore » of the carbon cycle and its variations of [delta][sup 13]C must take both mechanisms into account.« less