Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary

Molly Trudgill; James W. B. Rae; Ross  Whiteford; Markus Adloff; Jessica Crumpton-Banks; Michael Van Mourik; Andrea Burke; Marieke Cuperus; Frank Corsetti; Daniel Doherty; William Gray; Rosanna Greenop; Wei-Li Hong; Aivo Lepland; Andrew McIntyre; Noor Neiroukh; Catherine V. Rose; Micha Ruhl; David Saunders; Magali M. F. R. Siri; Robert C. J. Steele; Eva E Stüeken; A. Joshua West; Martin Ziegler; Sarah E. Greene

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6

Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary

Molly Trudgill^*, James W. B. Rae, Ross Whiteford, Markus Adloff, Jessica Crumpton-Banks, Michael Van Mourik, Andrea Burke, Marieke Cuperus, Frank Corsetti, Daniel Doherty, William Gray, Rosanna Greenop, Wei-Li Hong, Aivo Lepland, Andrew McIntyre, Noor Neiroukh, Catherine V. Rose, Micha Ruhl, David Saunders, Magali M. F. R. SiriRobert C. J. Steele, Eva E Stüeken, A. Joshua West, Martin Ziegler, Sarah E. Greene

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Mass extinctions have repeatedly perturbed the history of life, but their causes are often elusive. Ocean acidification has been implicated during Triassic–Jurassic environmental perturbations, but this interval lacks direct reconstructions of ocean pH. Here, we present boron isotope data from well-preserved fossil oysters, which provide evidence for acidification of ≥ 0.29 pH units coincident with a 2 ‰ negative carbon isotope excursion (the “main” CIE) following the end–Triassic extinction. These results suggest a prolonged interval of CO2-driven environmental perturbation that may have delayed ecosystem recovery. Earth system modelling with cGENIE paired with our pH constraints demonstrates this was driven by predominantly mantle-derived carbon. Ocean acidification therefore appears to be associated with three of the five largest extinction events in Earth history, highlighting the catastrophic ecological impact of major perturbations to the carbon cycle in Earth’s past, and possibly Earth’s anthropogenically perturbed future.

Original language	English
Article number	6471
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6
Publication status	Published - 14 Jul 2025

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6Licence: CC BY

Trudgill_2025_NC_Pulses-ocean-acidification-Triassic-Jurassic-boundary_CC
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Final published version, 1.47 MBLicence: CC BY

OldCO2NewArchives: CO2 reconstruction: OldCO2NewArchives: CO2 Reconstruction over the last 100 Myr from novel geological archives
Rae, J. (PI)
European Research Council
1/02/19 → 31/01/24
Project: Fellowship

St-Andrews-Isotope-Geochemistry/Triassic-Jurassic-CO2: v1.0.0
Whiteford, R. (Creator) & Trudgill, M. (Creator), Zenodo, 20 May 2025
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15475089
Dataset: Software
Output from calulations to determine pH and CO2 in the manuscript 'Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary'
Trudgill, M. (Creator), Rae, J. W. B. (Creator), WHITEFORD, R. (Creator), Adloff, M. (Creator), Crumpton-Banks, J. (Creator), Van Mourik, M. (Creator), Burke, A. (Creator), Cuperus, M. (Creator), Corsetti, F. (Creator), Doherty, D. (Creator), Gray, W. (Creator), Greenop, R. (Creator), Hong, W.-L. (Creator), Lepland, A. (Creator), McIntyre, A. (Creator), Neiroukh, N. (Creator), Rose, C. (Creator), Ruhl, M. (Creator), Saunders, D. (Creator), Siri, M. (Creator), Steele, R. (Creator), Stüeken, E. (Creator), West, A. J. (Creator), Ziegler, M. (Creator) & Greene, S. (Creator), Figshare, 2025
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29094518.v1
Dataset

Cite this

Trudgill, M., Rae, J. W. B., Whiteford, R., Adloff, M., Crumpton-Banks, J., Van Mourik, M., Burke, A., Cuperus, M., Corsetti, F., Doherty, D., Gray, W., Greenop, R., Hong, W.-L., Lepland, A., McIntyre, A., Neiroukh, N., Rose, C. V., Ruhl, M., Saunders, D., ... Greene, S. E. (2025). Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Nature Communications, 16, Article 6471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6

@article{9d9865b5a3a7488995448f0dfaea01d4,

title = "Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary",

abstract = "Mass extinctions have repeatedly perturbed the history of life, but their causes are often elusive. Ocean acidification has been implicated during Triassic–Jurassic environmental perturbations, but this interval lacks direct reconstructions of ocean pH. Here, we present boron isotope data from well-preserved fossil oysters, which provide evidence for acidification of ≥ 0.29 pH units coincident with a 2 ‰ negative carbon isotope excursion (the “main” CIE) following the end–Triassic extinction. These results suggest a prolonged interval of CO2-driven environmental perturbation that may have delayed ecosystem recovery. Earth system modelling with cGENIE paired with our pH constraints demonstrates this was driven by predominantly mantle-derived carbon. Ocean acidification therefore appears to be associated with three of the five largest extinction events in Earth history, highlighting the catastrophic ecological impact of major perturbations to the carbon cycle in Earth{\textquoteright}s past, and possibly Earth{\textquoteright}s anthropogenically perturbed future.",

author = "Molly Trudgill and Rae, {James W. B.} and Ross Whiteford and Markus Adloff and Jessica Crumpton-Banks and {Van Mourik}, Michael and Andrea Burke and Marieke Cuperus and Frank Corsetti and Daniel Doherty and William Gray and Rosanna Greenop and Wei-Li Hong and Aivo Lepland and Andrew McIntyre and Noor Neiroukh and Rose, {Catherine V.} and Micha Ruhl and David Saunders and Siri, {Magali M. F. R.} and Steele, {Robert C. J.} and St{\"u}eken, {Eva E} and West, {A. Joshua} and Martin Ziegler and Greene, {Sarah E.}",

note = "Funding: This work was supported by European Research Council Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement No. 805246 to JWBR, NERC Large Grant NE/P01903X/1 to SEG and MA, NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/L011050/1 to SEG, NERC IAPETUS PhD Studentships NE/RO12253/1 to MT, JCB, NERC GW4+ PhD Studentship S136361 to MA and NERC CENTA PhD Studentship NE/L002493/1 to DD. MT acknowledges the support of the EUR IPSL-Climate Graduate School (reference ANR-11-IDEX-0004-17-EURE-0006).",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

day = "14",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Research",

}

Trudgill, M, Rae, JWB, Whiteford, R, Adloff, M, Crumpton-Banks, J, Van Mourik, M, Burke, A, Cuperus, M, Corsetti, F, Doherty, D, Gray, W, Greenop, R, Hong, W-L, Lepland, A, McIntyre, A, Neiroukh, N, Rose, CV, Ruhl, M, Saunders, D, Siri, MMFR, Steele, RCJ , Stüeken, EE, West, AJ, Ziegler, M & Greene, SE 2025, 'Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary', Nature Communications, vol. 16, 6471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary

AU - Trudgill, Molly

AU - Rae, James W. B.

AU - Whiteford, Ross

AU - Adloff, Markus

AU - Crumpton-Banks, Jessica

AU - Van Mourik, Michael

AU - Burke, Andrea

AU - Cuperus, Marieke

AU - Corsetti, Frank

AU - Doherty, Daniel

AU - Gray, William

AU - Greenop, Rosanna

AU - Hong, Wei-Li

AU - Lepland, Aivo

AU - McIntyre, Andrew

AU - Neiroukh, Noor

AU - Rose, Catherine V.

AU - Ruhl, Micha

AU - Saunders, David

AU - Siri, Magali M. F. R.

AU - Steele, Robert C. J.

AU - Stüeken, Eva E

AU - West, A. Joshua

AU - Ziegler, Martin

AU - Greene, Sarah E.

N1 - Funding: This work was supported by European Research Council Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement No. 805246 to JWBR, NERC Large Grant NE/P01903X/1 to SEG and MA, NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/L011050/1 to SEG, NERC IAPETUS PhD Studentships NE/RO12253/1 to MT, JCB, NERC GW4+ PhD Studentship S136361 to MA and NERC CENTA PhD Studentship NE/L002493/1 to DD. MT acknowledges the support of the EUR IPSL-Climate Graduate School (reference ANR-11-IDEX-0004-17-EURE-0006).

PY - 2025/7/14

Y1 - 2025/7/14

N2 - Mass extinctions have repeatedly perturbed the history of life, but their causes are often elusive. Ocean acidification has been implicated during Triassic–Jurassic environmental perturbations, but this interval lacks direct reconstructions of ocean pH. Here, we present boron isotope data from well-preserved fossil oysters, which provide evidence for acidification of ≥ 0.29 pH units coincident with a 2 ‰ negative carbon isotope excursion (the “main” CIE) following the end–Triassic extinction. These results suggest a prolonged interval of CO2-driven environmental perturbation that may have delayed ecosystem recovery. Earth system modelling with cGENIE paired with our pH constraints demonstrates this was driven by predominantly mantle-derived carbon. Ocean acidification therefore appears to be associated with three of the five largest extinction events in Earth history, highlighting the catastrophic ecological impact of major perturbations to the carbon cycle in Earth’s past, and possibly Earth’s anthropogenically perturbed future.

AB - Mass extinctions have repeatedly perturbed the history of life, but their causes are often elusive. Ocean acidification has been implicated during Triassic–Jurassic environmental perturbations, but this interval lacks direct reconstructions of ocean pH. Here, we present boron isotope data from well-preserved fossil oysters, which provide evidence for acidification of ≥ 0.29 pH units coincident with a 2 ‰ negative carbon isotope excursion (the “main” CIE) following the end–Triassic extinction. These results suggest a prolonged interval of CO2-driven environmental perturbation that may have delayed ecosystem recovery. Earth system modelling with cGENIE paired with our pH constraints demonstrates this was driven by predominantly mantle-derived carbon. Ocean acidification therefore appears to be associated with three of the five largest extinction events in Earth history, highlighting the catastrophic ecological impact of major perturbations to the carbon cycle in Earth’s past, and possibly Earth’s anthropogenically perturbed future.

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6

DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-61344-6

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 16

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 6471

ER -

Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

OldCO2NewArchives: CO2 reconstruction: OldCO2NewArchives: CO2 Reconstruction over the last 100 Myr from novel geological archives

Datasets

St-Andrews-Isotope-Geochemistry/Triassic-Jurassic-CO2: v1.0.0

Output from calulations to determine pH and CO2 in the manuscript 'Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary'

Cite this