The eruptive tempo of deccan volcanism in relation to the cretaceous-paleogene boundary

Courtney J. Sprain, Paul R. Renne, Loÿc Vanderkluysen, Kanchan Pande, Stephen Self, Tushar Mittal

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273 Scopus citations

Abstract

Late Cretaceous records of environmental change suggest that Deccan Traps (DT) volcanism contributed to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) ecosystem crisis. However, testing this hypothesis requires identification of the KPB in the DT. We constrain the location of the KPB with high-precision argon-40/argon-39 data to be coincident with changes in the magmatic plumbing system. We also found that the DTdid not erupt in three discrete large pulses and that >90% of DT volume erupted in <1 million years, with ∼75% emplaced post-KPB. Late Cretaceous records of climate change coincide temporally with the eruption of the smallest DT phases, suggesting that either the release of climate-modifying gases is not directly related to eruptive volume or DT volcanism was not the source of Late Cretaceous climate change.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)866-870
Number of pages5
JournalScience
Volume363
Issue number6429
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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