Published January 8, 2025 | Published
Journal Article Open

Evidence for Low Dissolved Silica in mid-Mesozoic Oceans

  • 1. ROR icon University of Southern California
  • 2. ROR icon University of Colorado Boulder
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon University of Utah
  • 5. ROR icon Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
  • 6. ROR icon Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Abstract

The geologic history of dissolved silica concentration in the ocean (DSi) is central to understanding the evolution of silica biomineralization, the interactions between the global carbon and silicon cycles, and their combined role controlling global climate over geologic time. However, the silica cycle in the geologic past is under-constrained, especially during major mass extinction events that impacted biosilicifiers and were associated with dramatic climate change. We measured the silicon isotope ratios (δ30Si) of 76 sponge spicules from the Panthalassic Ocean spanning the Triassic–Jurassic boundary (ca. 201 Ma) to constrain DSi concentrations during the mid-Mesozoic. Spicule measurements have mean δ30Si values of –0.25‰ ± 0.99‰. Our data, combined with constraints on seawater δ30Si from coeval radiolarians, suggest that mid-Mesozoic DSi was between 20–100 µM, a similar range to the modern ocean. Our results support increasing evidence that by the Mesozoic DSi had already decreased by orders of magnitude relative to the Precambrian. These results imply that radiolarians and sponges were drawing down DSi prior to diatom ecological dominance. Increasing sponge δ30Si values across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, coupled with modeling evidence and previous palaeoecological observations, support that warming, increased weathering, and Si delivery before the end-Triassic extinction may have facilitated sponge expansion during the extinction recovery interval.

Copyright and License

© 2025 American Journal of Science.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license’s legal deed and legal code for more information.

Acknowledgement

We thank Yunbin Guan for SIMS instrument tuning and setup and helpful discussions, Kathy Omura at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum for modern sponge samples, and Kate Hendry for providing the modern data compilation in figure 8 and helpful advice. We acknowledge support from the NSF Earth Life Transitions program (1338329), the Caltech Center for Evolutionary Sciences (to WWF), and from the Elizabeth and Jerol Sonosky Fellowship of USC (to JAY). We thank Jessica Whiteside, Terry Isson, and seven anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Contributions

J.A.Y., K.R., A.J.W., W.W.F., F.A.C., D.J.B., W.M.B., and S.R., designed the study; J.A.Y., E.J.T., and A.J.C. performed the analyses; J.A.Y., A.J.W., E. J. T., and W.W.F. analyzed the data; A.J.W. performed the modeling; and J.A.Y. and A.J.W. wrote the paper, with contributions from all co-authors.

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Additional details

Created:
February 10, 2025
Modified:
February 10, 2025