CA-TIMS results show Pulses in silicic arc magmatism that initiate end-Permian climate instability and extinction

The dataset includes zircon crystallisation ages on volcanic and plutonic rocks in the New England region of eastern Australia. The high-fidelity, CA-TIMS U–Pb zircon record an end-Permian flare-up event, that involved the eruption of >39,000–150,000 km3 of silicic magma in c. 4.21 million years. A correlated high-resolution tephra record (c. 260–249 Ma) in the proximal sedimentary basins suggests recurrence of these eruptions in intervals of ~51,000–145,000 years. Peak eruption activity at 253 Ma is chronologically associated with intervals of pronounced species decline and the demise of the Glossopteris forests in the initial stages of the end-Permian mass extinction event.