Mega El Niño instigated the end-Permian mass extinction.

The ultimate driver of the end-Permian mass extinction is a topic of much debate. Here, we used a multiproxy and paleoclimate modeling approach to establish a unifying theory elucidating the heightened susceptibility of the Pangean world to the prolonged and intensified El Niño events leading to an extinction state. As atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide doubled from about 410 to about 860 ppm (parts per million) in the latest Permian, the meridional overturning circulation collapsed, the Hadley cell contracted, and El Niños intensified.

Ocean temperatures through the Phanerozoic reassessed.

The oxygen isotope compositions of carbonate and phosphatic fossils hold the key to understanding Earth-system evolution during the last 500 million years. Unfortunately, the validity and interpretation of this record remain unsettled. Our comprehensive compilation of Phanerozoic δO data for carbonate and phosphate fossils and microfossils (totaling 22,332 and 4615 analyses, respectively) shows rapid shifts best explained by temperature change.

Paleotemperature record of the Middle Devonian Kačák Episode.

The Middle Devonian Epoch, ~ 393-383 million years ago, is known for a peak in diversity and highest latitudinal distribution of coral and stromatoporoid reefs. About 388 million years ago, during the late Eifelian and earliest Givetian, climax conditions were interrupted by the polyphased Kačák Episode, a short-lived period of marine dys-/anoxia associated with climate warming that lasted less than 500 kyr. Reconstruction of the seawater temperature contributes to a better understanding of the climate conditions marine biota were exposed to during the event interval.

Mineralogical, compositional and isotope characterization of human kidney stones (urolithiasis) in a Sri Lankan population.

In order to understand the processes of stone formation, compositional, spectroscopic, mineralogical and crystallographic characteristics of human urinary stones collected from patients in Sri Lanka were investigated in detail. The data showed that the majority of urinary calculi were calcium oxalate, either whewellite or weddellite. Other solid phases of stones were composed of struvite, uricite and hydroxylapatite.

Response to comment on "lethally hot temperatures during the Early Triassic greenhouse".

Goudemand et al. replot a subset of our well-constrained data using a new Early Triassic biostratigraphic scheme based on a lower-resolution ammonoid zonation scheme and hypothetical ammonoid-conodont correlation to produce a less distinct seawater temperature history. We dispute their unsubstantiated correlation and, consequently, their allegations.

Lethally hot temperatures during the Early Triassic greenhouse.

Global warming is widely regarded to have played a contributing role in numerous past biotic crises. Here, we show that the end-Permian mass extinction coincided with a rapid temperature rise to exceptionally high values in the Early Triassic that were inimical to life in equatorial latitudes and suppressed ecosystem recovery. This was manifested in the loss of calcareous algae, the near-absence of fish in equatorial Tethys, and the dominance of small taxa of invertebrates during the thermal maxima.