Palaeoclimate - Karoo vertebrate destructive sampling

The end Triassic Mass Extinction (ETE) is hypothesized to have been caused by large-scale, volcanically induced perturbations to the global carbon cycle, which caused rapid global climate change. The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), the volcanic event of interest, covered most of northern Africa, eastern North America, northern South America, and parts of western Europe with approximately 3x106 km3 of basalt flows, making the CAMP the most extensive and voluminous volcanic event on Earth. Mathematical estimations suggest that the CAMP emitted between 8,000-9,000 Gt of carbon as CO2 which impacted global climate causing environmental and ecosystem changes worldwide.
Of significant importance is understanding the effects of the CAMP on continental ecosystems. A key record of these effects should be preserved within the Elliot Formation of the Karoo Basin. The Elliot Formation (EF), spanning the end Triassic - early Jurassic, is comprised of continental deposits representing fluvial-overbank deposits. The EF also contains the skeletal remains of many terrestrial vertebrate taxa as well as ichnofossils and fossilized wood.
Paleoclimate records can be gleaned from various climate-sensitive chemical proxies including vertebrate fossils. Hydroxylapatite, the crystaline mineral form of calcium phosphate with substitution vacancies [(Ca,REE,Sr,U,Th)10(PO4,CO3)6(OH,F,Cl)2] which makes up skeletal tissue, reflects the water and food consumed during an animal’s lifetime in the oxygen and carbon content of the phosphate and carbonate molecule. In the case of herbivores, the C-isotopic composition reflects the dominant floral makeup while the O-isotopic composition reflects metabolism, seasonality, and the isotopic composition of consumed/living water. Because climate controls the isotopic composition of surface water and flora, isotopic shifts in vertebrate mineral isotope composition reflects shifts in climate and environmental conditions over time. Thus, the stable isotopic composition of vertebrates provides a powerful record of changes to the climate and environment during the volatile Triassic to Jurassic transition and end Triassic mass extinction.