Research output per year
Research output per year
Kévin Rey, Michael O. Day, Romain Amiot, Jean Goedert, Christophe Lécuyer, Judith Sealy, Bruce S. Rubidge
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The late Capitanian mass extinction (~260 million years ago) represents one of the greatest biotic perturbations of the Phanerozoic and was the earliest mass extinction to affect terrestrial tetrapods and ecosystems. In the past, this extinction has been largely associated with taxonomic loss and ecological restructuring in marine environments but more recently it has also been recognised in terrestrial ecosystems. Though various environmental mechanisms have been proposed for the former, little evidence has yet been presented for the cause of terrestrial extinctions. We determined the stable oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of dentine apatite from twenty-eight specimens of the dicynodont therapsid Diictodon feliceps, to investigate the potential role of climate in driving terrestrial tetrapod extinctions. Studied specimens were recovered from a 270 m stratigraphic interval constraining the peak in tetrapod extinction rates in the uppermost Abrahamskraal Formation in the well-sampled main Karoo Basin of South Africa. Our results demonstrate a positive excursion of δ13C values coinciding with the extinction peak that is followed by a return to pre-extinction δ13C values, suggesting a local increase in aridity at the time of the extinction. For the same time interval, the δ18O values did not demonstrate statistically significant changes, suggesting constant temperature in the South African paleoenvironment. This unusual increase in aridity but not in temperature has been interpreted as the possible result of orogenesis in the Cape Fold Mountain source along the southern margin of Gondwana.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Gondwana Research |
Volume | 59 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Research output: Contribution to specialist/vulgarizing publication › Blog › Vulgarizing
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Meeting abstract (Book) › Research
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Meeting abstract (Book) › Research
Kevin Rey (Speaker), Michael O. Day (Contributor), Romain Amiot (Contributor), Jean Goedert (Contributor), Christophe Lécuyer (Contributor), Judith Sealy (Contributor) & Bruce S. Rubidge (Contributor)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
Kevin Rey (Speaker), Michael O. Day (Contributor), Romain Amiot (Contributor), Jean Goedert (Contributor), Christophe Lécuyer (Contributor), Judith Sealy (Contributor) & Bruce S. Rubidge (Contributor)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference