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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, not light tested, 25x25mm, thickness 0.001mm, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, not light tested, 25x25mm, thickness 0.0005mm, temporary acrylic support, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, light tested, 100x100mm, thickness 0.007mm, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, not light tested, 100x100mm, thickness 0.002mm, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, 0.5m coil, thickness 1.0mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, wire reel, 100m, diameter 0.125mm, annealed, 99.98%
Nickel, foil, 0.3m coil, thickness 0.125mm, as rolled, 99.99+%
Nickel, foil, 10mm disks, thickness 0.025mm, as rolled, 99.99+%
Nickel, foil, 0.5m coil, thickness 0.15mm, coil width 12mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, foil, 2m coil, thickness 0.5mm, annealed, 99.98%
Nickel, wire reel, 10m, diameter 0.125mm, annealed, 99.98%
Nickel, wire reel, 0.2m, diameter 0.5mm, as drawn, 99.99+%
Nickel, foil, 10mm disks, thickness 0.003mm, 99.95%
Nickel, foil, 0.2m coil, thickness 0.004mm, hard, 99%
Nickel, wire reel, 10m, diameter 0.025mm, as drawn, 99.98%
Nickel, foil, 10mm disks, thickness 0.0125mm, 99.9%
Nickel, foil, 0.5m coil, thickness 0.20mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, foil, 10m coil, thickness 0.05mm, coil width 2mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, tube, 500mm, outside diameter 8.4mm, inside diameter 8.15mm, wall thickness 0.125mm, hard, 99.5%
Nickel, foil, 10mm disks, thickness 0.0125mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, foil, 2m coil, thickness 0.075mm, as rolled, 99.98%
Nickel, foil, 150x150mm, thickness 0.15mm, annealed, 99%
Nickel, foil, 8mm disks, thickness 0.025mm, annealed, 99%