The Devonian Mass Extinctions: cataclysm or death by a thousand cuts?

A palynological investigation of the Early-Middle Devonian transition and associated Choteč Event in Northern Spain (2024)
Journal Article
Lopes, G., Blanco-Ferrera, S., Bond, D. P., Greene, S. E., Hilton, J., Marshall, J. E., Sanz-López, J., & Wellman, C. H. (2025). A palynological investigation of the Early-Middle Devonian transition and associated Choteč Event in Northern Spain. Review of palaeobotany and palynology, 332, Article 105222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2024.105222

In Northern Spain there is a near complete sequence of Devonian rocks that accumulated around a relatively isolated land mass, the Armorican Terrane Assemblage, which was separated from Gondwana to the south and Laurussia to the north. The Lower to M... Read More about A palynological investigation of the Early-Middle Devonian transition and associated Choteč Event in Northern Spain.

Re-evaluating Water Column Reoxygenation during the End Permian Mass Extinction (2024)
Journal Article
Yang, F., Li, S., An, K. Y., Bond, D. P., Ao, R., Wu, X. B., Ma, L. L., & Sun, Y. D. (2024). Re-evaluating Water Column Reoxygenation during the End Permian Mass Extinction. Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems G³, 25(10), Article e2024GC011779. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GC011779

Ocean anoxia is considered a key driver of the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME). However, it is much debated whether there was an ocean reoxygenation phase during, and in the aftermath, of the EPME. Evidence for ocean reoxygenation is often inferre... Read More about Re-evaluating Water Column Reoxygenation during the End Permian Mass Extinction.

Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction (2024)
Journal Article
Sun, Y., Farnsworth, A., Joachimski, M. M., Wignall, P. B., Krystyn, L., Bond, D. P., Ravidà, D. C., & Valdes, P. J. (2024). Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction. Science, 385(6714), 1189-1195. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado2030

The ultimate driver of the end-Permian mass extinction is a topic of much debate. Here, we used a multiproxy and paleoclimate modeling approach to establish a unifying theory elucidating the heightened susceptibility of the Pangean world to the prolo... Read More about Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction.

The great catastrophe: causes of the Permo-Triassic marine mass extinction (2023)
Journal Article
Wignall, P. B., & Bond, D. P. G. (2024). The great catastrophe: causes of the Permo-Triassic marine mass extinction. National Science Review, 11(1), Article nwad273. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwad273

The marine losses during the Permo-Triassic mass extinction were the worst ever experienced. All groups were badly affected, especially amongst the benthos (e.g. brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, foraminifers, ostracods). Planktonic populations underwe... Read More about The great catastrophe: causes of the Permo-Triassic marine mass extinction.

How Large Igneous Provinces Have Killed Most Life on Earth—Numerous Times (2023)
Journal Article
Grasby, S. E., & Bond, D. P. (2023). How Large Igneous Provinces Have Killed Most Life on Earth—Numerous Times. Elements: An International Magazine of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology, 19(5), 276-281. https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.19.5.276

Evolution has not been a simple path. Since the first appearance of complex life, there have been several mass extinctions on Earth. This was exemplified by the most severe event during the Phanerozoic, the end-Permian mass extinction that occurred 2... Read More about How Large Igneous Provinces Have Killed Most Life on Earth—Numerous Times.

Middle Jurassic terrestrial environmental and floral changes linked to volcanism: Evidence from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China (2023)
Journal Article
Zhang, P., Yang, M., Lu, J., Jiang, Z., Zhou, K., Liu, H., He, Z., Wang, Y., Bian, X., Shao, L., Hilton, J., & Bond, D. P. (2023). Middle Jurassic terrestrial environmental and floral changes linked to volcanism: Evidence from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. Global and planetary change, 223, Article 104094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104094

The breakup of Pangaea and the rapid opening of the Ligurian and Central Atlantic oceans during the Middle Jurassic resulted in widespread volcanism accompanied by significant shifts in global environments, climates, and floras. Although major volcan... Read More about Middle Jurassic terrestrial environmental and floral changes linked to volcanism: Evidence from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.