Changes in continental weathering across the Permian-Triassic transition: A global review

The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) is associated with the loss of approximately 80–90 % marine species and 70 % terrestrial taxa. Massive greenhouse gas emissions from activities of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (ST-LIP) and arc volcanisms are thought to be the trigger of the EPME. Global temperatures rose significantly following the EPME, and such extreme warmth persisted into the Early Triassic, which may have led to enhanced silicate weathering, and increased river runoff and sediment accumulation rate. However, ecosystem recovery was delayed by at least five million years after the EPME. One leading hypothesis attributes this protracted recovery to sustained atmospheric CO₂ accumulation, resulting from volcanic emissions from the ST-LIP that overwhelmed the normal Earth surface carbon cycle. To evaluate this, we synthesize geochemical and sedimentological records of continental weathering across the Permian–Triassic (PT) transition, drawing on a suite of proxies including major elements-based proxies, strontium (^87/86Sr and δ^88/86Sr), osmium (¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os), lithium (δ⁷Li), magnesium (δ²⁶Mg) and calcium (δ⁴⁴Ca) isotopes. We highlight the strengths and limitations of each proxy and assess how chemical and physical weathering may have responded to the environmental perturbations across the PT transition. Collectively, these records can help test the hypothesis that the silicate weathering feedback were insufficient to counteract elevated CO₂ levels, thereby failing to stabilize Earth's climate during the prolonged Early Triassic warmth.