Cooling-driven oceanic anoxia across the Smithian/Spathian boundary (mid-Early Triassic)

The Smithian/Spathian boundary (SSB) represents a major climatic-oceanic-biotic event within the ~5-Myr-long recovery interval of the Early Triassic following the end-Permian mass extinction. The SSB was associated with pronounced cooling following the middle Smithian hyper-greenhouse, a ~ +2 to +8‰ positive carbon isotope excursion, and a second-order mass extinction, yet its underlying cause(s) remain poorly understood. Here, we review oceanic...