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Methanogenic burst in the end-Permian carbon cycle.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2014-04-08)
Daniel H Rothman, Gregory P Fournier, Katherine L French, Eric J Alm, Edward A Boyle, Changqun Cao, Roger E Summons
ABSTRACT

The end-Permian extinction is associated with a mysterious disruption to Earth's carbon cycle. Here we identify causal mechanisms via three observations. First, we show that geochemical signals indicate superexponential growth of the marine inorganic carbon reservoir, coincident with the extinction and consistent with the expansion of a new microbial metabolic pathway. Second, we show that the efficient acetoclastic pathway in Methanosarcina emerged at a time statistically indistinguishable from the extinction. Finally, we show that nickel concentrations in South China sediments increased sharply at the extinction, probably as a consequence of massive Siberian volcanism, enabling a methanogenic expansion by removal of nickel limitation. Collectively, these results are consistent with the instigation of Earth's greatest mass extinction by a specific microbial innovation.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Methane, electronic grade, ≥99.998%
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, nanopowder, <100 nm avg. part. size, ≥99% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, rod, diam. 6.35 mm, ≥99.99% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, foil, thickness 0.5 mm, 99.98% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, foil, thickness 0.1 mm, 99.98% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, wire, diam. 0.5 mm, ≥99.9% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Nickel, powder, <50 μm, 99.7% trace metals basis
Nickel, foil, 2m coil, thickness 0.015mm, 99.9%
Nickel, foil, not light tested, 50x50mm, thickness 0.0025mm, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, 50x50mm, thickness 0.125mm, as rolled, 99.999%
Nickel, rod, 1000mm, diameter 6.35mm, 99%
Nickel, foil, 25x25mm, thickness 0.3mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, mesh, 30x30mm, nominal aperture 0.04mm, thickness 0.004mm, wire diameter 0.011mm, 500 wires/inch, open area 60%, electro-formed mesh, 99.9%
Nickel, foil, 50x50mm, thickness 0.3mm, as rolled, 99.999%
Nickel, foil, 25x25mm, thickness 2.0mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, tube, 500mm, outside diameter 1.8mm, inside diameter 1.6mm, wall thickness 0.1mm, hard, 99.5%
Nickel, pellets, 50g, max. size 20mm, 99.99+%
Nickel, foil, 25x25mm, thickness 0.125mm, as rolled, 99.999%
Nickel, foil, 2m coil, thickness 0.025mm, coil width 600mm, as rolled, 99%
Nickel, foil, 50x50mm, thickness 1.0mm, as rolled, 99.999%
Nickel, mesh, 240x240mm, nominal aperture 0.43mm, thickness 0.004mm, wire diameter 0.067mm, 51 wires/inch, open area 75%, electro-formed mesh, 99.9%
Nickel, foil, 50x50mm, thickness 2.0mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, foil, 150x300mm, thickness 0.25mm, annealed, 99.98%
Nickel, tube, 500mm, outside diameter 1.5mm, inside diameter 1.4mm, wall thickness 0.05mm, hard, 99.5%
Nickel, pellets, 50g, max. size 5mm, 99.99+%
Nickel, microfoil, disks, 25mm, thinness 1.0μm, specific density 895.8μg/cm2, permanent mylar 3.5μm support, 99.99+%
Nickel, foil, 2m coil, thickness 0.02mm, 99.9%
Nickel, wire reel, 10m, diameter 0.125mm, hard, 99.98%
Nickel, foil, 150x300mm, thickness 0.5mm, annealed, 99.98%
Nickel, mesh, 30x30mm, nominal aperture 0.43mm, thickness 0.004mm, wire diameter 0.067mm, 51 wires/inch, open area 75%, electro-formed mesh, 99.9%