Catastrophic environmental transition at the Permian-Triassic Neo-Tethyan margin of Gondwanaland: Geochemical, isotopic and sedimentological evidence in the Spiti Valley, India

Interpreting global consequences of the Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) extinction requires examination across paleogeographic realms of Pangaea. The Spiti Valley in India, remnant of the peri-Gondwanan shelf, preserved trails of this environmental catastrophe in the Neo-Tethys Ocean. We document new sedimentological observations and high-resolution trace element concentrations and carbon, oxygen, lead isotope data across the P-Tr boundary in Spiti. Framboidal pyrites, fossils and laminated lithology of the Late Permian shales indicate deeper anoxic depositional environment while δ¹³C_org excursions of 2.4‰ and 3.1‰ in Atargu and Guling outcrops, respectively, identify the P-Tr transition across a clayey, partly gypsiferous ferruginous layer. Sedimentological similarities of this layer to other Neo-Tethyan sections from Transcaucasia and Iran indicate subaqueous oxidation of shallow marine sediments on a regional scale. Light Rare Earth Element - enriched Late Permian shales with conspicuous Ce-Eu anomalies reflect their source from the adjacent Panjal Trap basalts (ca. 289 Ma) of Kashmir. Continental crustal Nb-Ta and Zr-Hf anomalies appear at the P-Tr boundary sediments, and prevail through the overlying Early Triassic carbonates. Original Pb isotope ratios, along with an increasing Pb abundance closer to the P-Tr boundary, distinguish the volcanic source of the Late Permian shales from the continental crustal siliciclastic signature of the Early Triassic carbonates. Our δ¹³C_org, trace element and Pb isotope record from Spiti indicate catastrophic changes in sediment sources and facies, with effects on carbon cycle and are consistent with an abrupt episode of marine regression and erosional forcing, also observed elsewhere along northern Gondwanaland. Simultaneous eruption of Siberian volcanics and bolide impacts in Parana basin of Brazil and elsewhere implicating impact-triggered volcanism, left catastrophic regional-global imprints on sea level, climate, marine anoxia and tectonic stability that connected the P-Tr crisis across terrestrial and marine realms worlwide.