The end-Triassic extinction (201.6 Ma) occurred alongside large-scale volcanic activity from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Volcanic eruptions are known to emit various gases and ash into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight and leading to often-deadly “volcanic winters.” It is currently unclear if volcanic winters contributed to the end-Triassic extinction, but their occurrence may potentially be evidenced by sulfur isotopic patterns in lake sediments from that time interval. However, numerous other background factors affect sulfur isotopic behavior in lake systems, making it difficult to isolate volcanism-related effects from background sulfur behavior.

To address this, we explore the sulfur isotopic patterns of lake sediments deposited ~10 million years prior to CAMP, a time interval in which we anticipate no volcanic input into the lake system. The sulfur isotopic patterns in pre-CAMP lake cycles will serve as a template that can then be compared to syn-CAMP sulfur behavior, allowing for the specific isotopic effects of volcanic winters to be more easily disentangled from the numerous other factors that control sulfur isotope behavior in lake systems, and ultimately, help determine if volcanic winters contributed to the end-Triassic extinction.