Prof Paul Wignall

Professor of Palaeoenvironments

Contact details

Telephone extension: 35247

Email address: P.B.Wignall@leeds.ac.uk

Room: 8.18

Links

Home page

Research

Professor Paul Wignall lectures in palaeontology and sedimentology. His principal research goal is to understand the origins of mass extinction events. He has been investigating the end-Permian mass extinction since the late 1980s and in recent years has broadened his research topics to include the late Devonian (Frasnian/Famennian), end-Triassic and Early Jurassic (Toarcian) mass extinction events. His multidisciplinary approach to the origins of these crises in Earth's history includes the study of their fossil, sequence stratigraphic and their stable isotope records. Evidence for marine anoxia is often associated with all of these extinction events and this nicely overlaps with Professor Wignall's other main research interest: the characterisation of black shale depositional environments. As many of the key extinction boundary sections are not found in West Yorkshire, Professor Wignall has been forced to travel to often remote parts of the globe: his favourite field areas to date have been Nevada and central Poland. He has published over 90 research articles and 2 books.

Publications

Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (2009) Abstract of “The role of sea-level change and marine anoxia in the Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction”, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 273(3-4), pp365-367. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.12.012

Wignall, PB; Racki, G (2009) Comment on "Mantle plume: The invisible serial killer - Application to the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction", by E. Heydari, N. Arzani and J. Hassanzadeh [Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 264 (2008) 147-162], PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 283(1-2), pp99-101. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.031

Wignall, PB; Kershaw, S; Collin, PY; Crasquin-Soleau, S (2009) Erosional truncation of uppermost Permian shallow-marine carbonates and implications for Permian-Triassic boundary events: Comment, GEOL SOC AM BULL, 121(5-6), pp954-956. doi:10.1130/B26424.1

Wignall, PB; Vedrine, S; Bond, DPG; Wang, W; Lai, XL; Ali, JR; Jiang, HS (2009) Facies analysis and sea-level change at the Guadalupian-Lopingian Global Stratotype (Laibin, South China), and its bearing on the end-Guadalupian mass extinction, J GEOL SOC LONDON, 166, pp655-666. doi:10.1144/0016-76492008-118

Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (2009) Latitudinal selectivity of foraminifer extinctions during the late Guadalupian crisis, PALEOBIOLOGY, 35(4), pp465-483.

Wignall, P B; Racki, G (2009) Mantle plume: The invisible serial killer - Application to the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction. Comment, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 283, pp99-101.

Zaton, M; Marynowski, L; Szczepanik, P; Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (2009) Redox conditions during sedimentation of the Middle Jurassic (Upper Bajocian-Bathonian) clays of the Polish Jura (south-central Poland), FACIES, 55(1), pp103-114. doi:10.1007/s10347-008-0159-z

Wignall, PB; Sun, YD; Bond, DPG; Izon, G; Newton, RJ; Vedrine, S; Widdowson, M; Ali, JR; Lai, XL; Jiang, HS; Cope, H; Bottrell, SH (2009) Volcanism, Mass Extinction, and Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China, SCIENCE, 324(5931), pp1179-1182. doi:10.1126/science.1171956

John, EH; Cliff, R; Wignall, PB (2008) A positive trend in seawater Sr-87/Sr-86 values over the Early-Middle Frasnian boundary (Late Devonian) recorded in well-preserved conodont elements from the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 269(3-4), pp166-175. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.031

Luo, G-M; Lai, X-L; Feng, Q-L; Jiang, H-S; Wignall, P B; Zhang, K-X; Sun, Y-D; Wu, J (2008) End-Permian conodont fauna from Dongpan section: Correlation between the deep- and shallow-water facies, Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 51(11), pp1611-1622.

Sun, YD; Lai, XL; Jiang, HS; Luo, GM; Sun, S; Yan, CB; Wignall, PB (2008) Guadalupian (Middle Permian) Conodont Faunas at Shangsi Section, Northeast Sichuan Province, J CHINA UNIV GEOSCI, 19(5), pp451-460.

Lai, XL; Wang, W; Wignall, PB; Bond, DG; Jiang, HS; Ali, JR; John, EH; Sun, YD (2008) Palaeoenvironmental change during the end-Guadalupian (Permian) mass extinction in Sichuan, China, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 269(1-2), pp78-93. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.08.005

Luo, GM; Lai, XL; Shi, GR; Jiang, HS; Yin, HF; Xie, SC; Tong, JN; Zhang, KX; He, WH; Wignall, PB (2008) Size variation of conodont elements of the Hindeodus-Isarcicella clade during the Permian-Triassic transition in South China and its implication for mass extinction, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 264(1-2), pp176-187. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.015

Wignall, P B (2008) The End-Permian crisis, aftermath and subsequent recovery, In: Okada, H., Mawatari, S.F., Suzuki, N. and Gautam, P. (Ed) Origin and Evolution of Natural Diversity, 21st Century for Neo-Science of Natural History, Hokkaido, Japan: Hokkaido University, pp43-48.

Wignall, PB; Bond, DPG (2008) The end-Triassic and Early Jurassic mass extinction records in the British Isles, P GEOLOGIST ASSOC, 119, pp73-84.

Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (2008) The role of sea-level change and marine anoxia in the Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 263(3-4), pp107-118. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.02.015

Xie, SC; Pancost, RD; Huang, JH; Wignall, PB; Yu, JX; Tang, XY; Chen, L; Huang, XY; Lai, XL (2007) Changes in the global carbon cycle occurred as two episodes during the Permian-Triassic crisis, GEOLOGY, 35(12), pp1083-1086. doi:10.1130/G24224A.1

Ali, JR; Wignall, PB (2007) Comment on "Fusiline biotic turnover across the Guadaluplan-Lopingian (middle-upper Permian) boundary in mid-oceanic carbonate build-ups: Biostratigraphy of accreted limestone in Japan" by Ayano Ota and Yukio Isozaki, J ASIAN EARTH SCI, 30(1), pp199-200. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2006.11.003

McArthur, JM; Wignall, PB (2007) Comment on "Non-uniqueness and interpretation of the seawater Sr-87/Sr-86 curve" by Dave Waltham and Darren R. Grocke (GCA, 70, 2006, 384-394), GEOCHIM COSMOCHIM AC, 71(13), pp3382-3386. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2006.10.026

Jiang, HS; Lai, XL; Luo, GM; Aldridge, R; Zhang, KX; Wignall, PB (2007) Restudy of conodont zonation and evolution across the P/T boundary at Meishan section, Changxing, Zhejiang, China, Global and Planetary Change, 55(1-3), pp39-55. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.06.007

Wignall, PB; Zonneveld, JP; Newton, RJ; Amor, K; Sephton, MA; Hartley, S (2007) The end Triassic mass extinction record of Williston Lake, British Columbia, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 253(3-4), pp385-406. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.06.020

Wignall, PB (2007) The End-Permian mass extinction - how bad did it get?, GEOBIOLOGY, 5(4), pp303-309. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2007.00130.x

Wignall, PB; Hallam, A; Newton, RJ; Sha, JG; Reeves, E; Mattioli, E; Crowley, S (2006) An eastern Tethyan (Tibetan) record of the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) mass extinction event, GEOBIOLOGY, 4(3), pp179-190. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2006.00081.x

Wignall, PB; McArthur, JM; Little, CTS; Hallam, A (2006) Palaeoceanography - Methane release in the Early Jurassic period, NATURE, 441(7093), ppE5-E5. doi:10.1038/nature04905

Sephton, MA; Looy, CV; Brinkhuis, H; Wignall, PB; de Leeuw, JW; Visscher, H (2005) Catastrophic soil erosion during the end-Permian biotic crisis, GEOLOGY, 33(12), pp941-944. doi:10.1130/G2178.1

Wignall, PB; Woods, A; Bottjer, D (2005) Comment on "Permian–Triassic boundary interval in the Abadeh section of Iran with implications for mass extinction: Part 1. Sedimentology" by E. Heydari, J. Hassanzadeh, W.J. Wade and A.M. Ghazi, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 217(3-4), pp315-317. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.11.022

Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (2005) Evidence for Late Devonian (Kellwasser) anoxic events in the Great Basin, western United States, In: Morrow, J., Over, J. and Wignall, P.B. (Ed) Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic biotic and climatic events: towards an integrated approach, Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Elsevier, pp225-261.

Wignall, PB (2005) Introduction, In: Morrow, J., Over, J. and Wignall, P.B. (Ed) Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic biotic and climatic events: towards an integrated approach, Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Elsevier, pp1-3.

Racki, G; Wignall, PB (2005) Late Permian double-phased mass extinction and volcanism: an oceanographic approach, In: Morrow, J., Over, J. and Wignall, P.B. (Ed) Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic biotic and climatic events: towards an integrated approach, Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Elsevier, pp263-297.

Kerr, AC; England, RW; Wignall, PB (2005) Mantle plumes: physical processes, chemical signatures, biological effects, LITHOS, 79(3-4), ppVII-X. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2004.09.003

Wignall, PB; Newton, R; Brookfield, ME (2005) Pyrite framboid evidence for oxygen-poor deposition during the Permian-Triassic crisis in Kashmir, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 216(3-4), pp183-188. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.10.009

Wignall, PB (2005) The End Triassic Mass Extinction, In: (Ed) Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester.

Wignall, PB (2005) The link between large igneous provinces and mass extinctions, Elements, 1, pp293-297.

Wignall, PB; Newton, RJ; Little, CTS (2005) The timing of paleoenvironmental change and cause-and-effect relationships during the early Jurassic mass extinction in Europe, AM J SCI, 305(10), pp1014-1032.

Morrow, J; Over, J; Wignall, PB (2005) Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic biotic and climatic events: towards an integrated approach, Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Elsevier.

Wignall, PB (2005) Volcanism and mass extinctions, In: Marti, J. and Ernst, G (Ed) Volcanoes and the environment, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp207-226.

Wignall, PB (2004) Anoxic environments, In: Selley, R.C., Cocks, L.R.M. and Plimer, I.R. (Ed) Encyclopedia of Geology, Elsevier, pp495-501.

Wignall, PB (2004) Biotic recovery after mass extinctions, In: ? (Ed) McGraw-Hill 2004 yearbook of science and technology, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York.

Wignall, PB (2004) Causes of mass extinctions, In: PD Taylor (Ed) Extinctions in the history of life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp119-150.

Wignall, PB; Newton, R (2004) Comment - Contrasting deepwater records from the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic of South Tibet and British Columbia: Evidence for a diachronous mass extinction (Wignall and Newton, 2003) - Reply, PALAIOS, 19(1), pp102-104.

Hallam, A; Wignall, PB (2004) Discussion on sea-level change and facies development across potential Triassic-Jurassic boundary horizons, SW Britain, Journal of the Geological Society, 161(6), pp1053-1056.

Bond, D; Wignall, PB; Racki, G (2004) Extent and duration of marine anoxia during the Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction in Poland, Germany, Austria and France, GEOL MAG, 141(2), pp173-193. doi:10.1017/S0016756804008866

Wignall, PB (2004) Extinction: End-Triassic mass extinction, In: (Ed) Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, Macmillian Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group.

Racki, G; Piechota, A; Bond, D; Wignall, PB (2004) Geochemical and ecological aspects of lower Frasnian pyrite-ammonoid level at Kostomloty (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland), GEOL Q, 48(3), pp267-282.

Wignall, PB; Thomas, B; willink, R; watling, J (2004) Is Bedout an impact crater?, Science, 306(5696), . doi:10.1126/science.306.5696.609d

Newton, RJ; Pevitt, EL; Wignall, PB; Bottrell, SH (2004) Large shifts in the isotopic composition of seawater sulphate across the Permo-Triassic boundary in northern Italy, EARTH PLANET SC LETT, 218(3-4), pp331-345. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00676-9

Wignall, PB (2004) Permian, In: Selley, R.C., Cocks, L.R.M. and Plimer, I.R. (Ed) Encyclopedia of Geology, Elsevier, pp214-218.

Wignall, PB (2004) Recent developments: Environmental and climatic impact of large igneous provinces, .

Wignall, PB; Newton, RJ (2004) Reply to comment by Retallack: Contrasting Deep-water Records from the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic of South Tibet and British Columbia: Evidence for a Diachronous Mass Extinction, Palaios, 19(1), pp102-104.

Wignall, PB; Best, JL (2004) Sedimentology and kinematics of a large, retrogressive growth-fault system in Upper Carboniferous deltaic sediments, western Ireland, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 51(6), pp1343-1358. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2004.00673.x

Wignall, PB; Newton, R (2003) Contrasting deep-water records from the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic of South Tibet and British Columbia: Evidence for a diachronous mass extinction, PALAIOS, 18(2), pp153-167.

Wan, XQ; Wignall, PB; Zhao, WJ (2003) The Cenomanian-Turonian extinction and oceanic anoxic event: evidence from southern Tibet, PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 199(3-4), pp283-298. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00543-1

Wignall, PB (2003) The end-Permian mass extinction, Mercian Geologist, 15, .

Sephton, MA; Amor, K; Franchi, IA; Wignall, PB; Newton, R; Zonneveld, JP (2002) Carbon and nitrogen isotope disturbances and an end-Norian (Late Triassic) extinction event, GEOLOGY, 30(12), pp1119-1122.

Wignall, PB; Twitchett, RJ (2002) Extent, duration, and nature of the Permian-Triassic superanoxic event, In: Koeberl C, MacLeod KG (Ed) International Interdisciplinary Conference on Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions - Impacts and Beyond, GEOLOGICAL SOC OF AMERICA INC, PO BOX 9140, BOULDER, CO 80301 USA, pp395-413.

Wignall, PB; Twitchett, RJ (2002) Permian-Triassic sedimentology of Jameson Land, East Greenland: incised submarine channels in an anoxic basin, J GEOL SOC LONDON, 159, pp691-703.

Wignall, PB; Best, JL (2002) Reply to comment on The Western Irish Namurian Basin reassessed: by O.J. Martinsen and J.D. Collinson, Basin Research, 14(4), pp531-542.

Wignall, PB (2002) Review of Yin, H.F., Dickins, J.M., Shi, G.R. and Tong, J. 2000. Permian-Triassic evolution of Tethys and western Circum-Pacific, Elsevier, Earth Science Reviews, 57, pp341-342.

Raiswell, R; Newton, R; Wignall, PB (2001) An indicator of water-column anoxia: Resolution of biofacies variations in the Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, UK), J SEDIMENT RES, 71(2), pp286-294.

Wignall, PB; Newton, R (2001) Black shales on the basin margin: a model based on examples from the Upper Jurassic of the Boulonnais, northern France, SEDIMENT GEOL, 144(3-4), pp335-356.

Wignall, PB (2001) End Permian mass extinction, In: Briggs, D.E.G. and Crowther, P.R. (Ed) Palaeobiology II, Oxford: Blackwell Scientific, pp226-229.

Racki, G; Wignall, PB (2001) Eutrophication by decoupling of the marine biogeochemical cycles of C, N, adn P: a mechanism for the Late Devonian mass extinction: comment, Geology, 29, . doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0469:EBDOTM>2.0.CO;2

Wignall, PB (2001) Large igneous provinces and mass extinctions, EARTH-SCI REV, 53(1-2), pp1-33.

Lai, X; Wignall, PB; Zhang, K (2001) Palaeoecology of the conodonts Hindeodus and Clarkina during the Permian-Triassic transitional period, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 171(1-2), pp63-72. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00269-3

Fisher, QJ; Wignall, PB (2001) Palaeoenvironmental controls on the uranium distribution in an Upper Carboniferous black shale (Gastrioceras listeri Marine Band) and associated strata; England, CHEM GEOL, 175(3-4), pp605-621.

Twitchett, RJ; Looy, CV; Morante, R; Visscher, H; Wignall, PB (2001) Rapid and synchronous collapse of marine and terrestrial ecosystems during the end-Permian biotic crisis, GEOLOGY, 29(4), pp351-354.

Wignall, PB (2001) Sedimentology of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary beds in Pinhay Bay (Devon, SW England), P GEOLOGIST ASSOC, 112, pp349-360.

Hallam, A; Wignall, PB; Yin, JR; Riding, JB (2000) An investigation into possible facies changes across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in southern Tibet, SEDIMENT GEOL, 137(3-4), pp101-106.

Hallam, A; Wignall, PB (2000) Facies change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in Nevada, USA, Journal of the Geological Society, 156, pp453-456.

Wignall, PB; Benton, MJ (2000) Reply to discussion on Lazarus taxa and fossil abundance at times of biotic crisis, Journal of the Geological Society, 157, .

Wignall, PB (2000) The end-Triassic mass extinction, Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, .

Wignall, PB; Best, JL (2000) The Western Irish Namurian Basin reassessed, Basin Research, 12(1), pp59-78.

Wignall, PB (1999) Comment on: Evidence for abrupt latest Permian mass extinction of foraminifera: Results of tests for the Signor-Lipps effect, Geology, 27, .

Wignall, PB; Benton, MJ (1999) Lazarus taxa and fossil abundance at times of biotic crisis, Journal of the Geological Society, 156, pp453-456.

Hallam, A; Wignall, PB (1999) Mass extinctions and sea-level changes, Earth Science Reviews, 48, pp217-250.

Wignall, PB; Twitchett, RJ (1999) Unusual intraclastic limestones in Lower Triassic carbonates and their bearing on the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction, Sedimentology, 46, pp303-316.

Wignall, PB (1998) Paleontological events: stratigraphic, ecological and evolutionary implications, Brett, C. and Baird, G. (Editors), Sedimentary Geology, 117, pp245-246.

Wignall, PB; Newton, R (1998) Pyrite framboid diameter as a measure of oxygen deficiency in ancient mudrocks, American Journal of Science, 298, pp537-552.

Wignall, PB; Morante, R; Newton, R (1998) The Permo-Triassic transition in Spitsbergen: d12Corg chemostratigraphy, Fe and S geochemistry, facies, fauna and trace fossils, Geological Magazine, 135, pp47-62.

Francis, JE; Wignall, PB (1997) Fieldwork safety at Leeds, Teaching Earth Sciences, 22, .

Hallam, A; Wignall, PB (1997) Mass extinctions and their aftermath, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wignall, PB; Hallam, A (1996) Facies change and the end-Permian mass extinction in S.E. Sichuan, China, Palaios, 11, pp587-596.

Wignall, PB; Maynard, JR (1996) High resolution sequence stratigraphy in the early Marsdenian (Namurian, Carboniferous) of the central Pennines and adjacent areas, Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 51, pp127-140.

Waters, CN; Maynard, JR; Wignall, PB (1996) New developments in the Late Carboniferous geology of the central Pennines, northern England: a review, Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 51, pp81-86.

Wignall, PB; Twitchett, RJ (1996) Oceanic anoxia and the end Permian mass extinction, Science, 272, pp1155-1158.

Wignall, PB; Kozur, H; Hallam, A (1996) On the timing of palaeoenvironmental changes at the Permo-Triassic (P/Tr) boundary using conodont biostratigraphy, Historical Biology, 12, pp39-62.

Twitchett, RJ; Wignall, PB (1996) Trace fossils and the aftermath of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction: evidence from northern Italy, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 124, pp137-151.

Wignall, PB; Sutcliffe, OE; Clemson, J; Young, E (1996) Unusual shoreface sedimentology in the Late Jurassic of the Boulonnais, northern France, Journal of Sedimentary Research. Section A: Sedimentary Petrology and Processes, 66, pp577-586.

Wignall, PB; Bond, D P G; Kuwahara, K; Kakuwa, Y; Newton, RJ; Poulton, SW (Accepted) An 80 million year oceanic redox history from Permian to Jurassic pelagic sediments of the Mino-Tamba terrane, SW Japan, and the origin of four mass extinctions (in press), Global and Planetary Change, .

Bond, DPG; Wignall, PB (Accepted) Pyrite framboid study of marine Permo-Triassic boundary sections: a complex anoxic event and its relationship to contemporaneous mass extinction (in press), Geological Society of America Bulletin, .