Massive organic carbon burial in the North China Basin is a main contributor to peak Late Paleozoic Ice Age in early Asselian

The driving factors of the peak Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) in the Early Permian are still controversial. We aim to contribute to this issue by highlighting the significance of the volume and rate of organic carbon burial (OC) in the North China Basin (NCB) during the late Gzhelian and early Asselian. Tectonic uplift along the northern margin and adjacent regional subsidence of the NCB provided accommodation for large volumes of OC burial during this period. Notably, there was accelerated uplift of the northern margin of NCB during the early Asselian, causing increased source-area relief, greater sediment yield and increased sedimentation rates in the adjacent subsiding basin. The extended basinward growth of the Asselian clastic wedge also caused sharply expanded terrestrial vegetation and increased paleo-ocean primary productivity. The early Asselian OC burial magnitude accounted for ∼ 47 % of the global OC magnitude in the same period and resulted in a significant decrease of pCO₂. We argue that this significant NCB OC sink contributed greatly to the peak of the LPIA in Early Asselian.