The Impetus for Bloom of Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems in Northern China: Insights From Volcanic Nutrient and Harmful Element Delivery

The Jehol and Yanliao biotas of northern China, two world-class Lagerstatten with abundant biomass and biodiversity, provide critical clues to Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. Their evolution is a response to the destruction of the North China craton. However, the impetus for the rapid bloom of the biotas remains a mystery. Mesozoic large-scale volcanic-sedimentary strata in northern China are rich in terrestrial organisms. Statistical analyses show that volcanic nutrient element delivery, biomass, and biodiversity in these stratigraphic sequences increase synchronously, while harmful elements have the opposite change with them. These observations reveal the coevolutionary relationship between volcanism and terrestrial biotas. The increased nutrient element supply and inhibited harmful element delivery to terrestrial ecosystems from the voluminous volcanic products, produced under the geodynamic regime of paleo-Pacific subduction and cratonic destruction, could create a conducive environment for the biodiversity and high prosperity of Mesozoic terrestrial biotas.