State shift in Deccan volcanism at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, possibly induced by impact

Science ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 350 (6256) ◽  
pp. 76-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Renne ◽  
Courtney J. Sprain ◽  
Mark A. Richards ◽  
Stephen Self ◽  
Loÿc Vanderkluysen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Seismic Energy ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Deccan Traps ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Transient Effects ◽  
Magmatic System ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

Bolide impact and flood volcanism compete as leading candidates for the cause of terminal-Cretaceous mass extinctions. High-precision 40Ar/39Ar data indicate that these two mechanisms may be genetically related, and neither can be considered in isolation. The existing Deccan Traps magmatic system underwent a state shift approximately coincident with the Chicxulub impact and the terminal-Cretaceous mass extinctions, after which ~70% of the Traps' total volume was extruded in more massive and more episodic eruptions. Initiation of this new regime occurred within ~50,000 years of the impact, which is consistent with transient effects of impact-induced seismic energy. Postextinction recovery of marine ecosystems was probably suppressed until after the accelerated volcanism waned.

Deccan Volcanism or the Chicxulub Impact: The Chicken or Egg Question

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerta Keller
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Impact Crater ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Asteroid Impact ◽  
Global Climate Warming ◽  
Chicxulub Impact Crater ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (KTB or KPB) mass extinction is primarily known for the<br>demise of the dinosaurs, the Chicxulub impact, and the rancorous forty-year-old controversy<br>over the cause of this mass extinction. For the first 30 years, the controversy primarily revolved<br>around the age of the impact claimed as precisely KTB based on the assumption that it caused<br>the mass extinction. The iridium (Ir) anomaly at the KTB was claimed proof of the asteroid<br>impact, but no Ir was ever associated with impact evidence and recent findings reveal no<br>extraterrestrial component in PGEs or the KTB Ir anomaly. Impact melt rock glass spherules are<br>also claimed as indisputable evidence of the KTB age impact, but such spherule layers are<br>commonly reworked from the primary (oldest) layer in late Maastrichtian, KTB and Danian<br>sediments; thus only the oldest impact spherule layer documented near the base of zone CF1<br>~200 ky below the KTB can approximate the impact’s age. Similarly, the impact breccia in the<br>Chicxulub impact crater predates the KTB. The best age derived from Ar/Ar dating of impact<br>glass spherules is within 200 ky of the KTB and thus no evidence for the KTB age. All evidence<br>strongly suggests the Chicxulub impact most likely predates the mass extinction ~ 200 ky and<br>played no role in it.<br>Deccan volcanism (LIP) was dismissed as potential cause or even contributor to the KTB mass<br>extinction despite the fact that all other mass extinctions are associated with Large Igneous<br>Province (LIP) volcanism but none with an asteroid impact. During the last decade, Deccan<br>volcanism gained credence based on a succession of discoveries: 1) the mass extinction in<br>between the longest Deccan lava flows across India; 2) high-precision dating of the entire<br>sequence of Deccan volcanism based on UPb zircon dating; 3) recognition of four distinct<br>eruption pulses all related to global climate warming with the largest pulse beginning 20 ky prior<br>to and ending at the KTB; 4) Identifying the climate link to Deccan volcanism based on age<br>dating and mercury from Deccan eruptions in marine sediments; and 5) Identifying the KTB<br>mass extinction directly related to the major Deccan eruption pulse, hyperthermal warming and<br>ocean acidification all linked to global mercury fallout from Deccan eruptions in marine<br>sediments. Despite this remarkable culmination of evidence, the controversy continues with<br>impact proponents arguing that Deccan volcanism didn’t exist at the KTB – the impact was the<br>sole cause.</p>

Paroxysmal Deccan Eruptions linked to End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Adatte ◽  
Gerta Keller ◽  
Jorge E. Spangenberg ◽  
Paula Mateo ◽  
Jahnavi Punekar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Global Climate Changes ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Chicxulub impact in Mexico and Deccan volcanism in India are both linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction but the relative timing of the impact, volcanic eruptions, and environmental changes remain controversial, precluding a full assessment of their respective roles. Mercury anomalies within the stratigraphic record have recently been proposed as atmospheric fallout of continental large igneous provinces (LIPs), and these anomalies are associated with all five major mass extinctions in Earth’s history. If this proxy is robust, it could provide a record of volcanism directly correlated to mass extinctions and in the case of the End-extinction, the Chicxulub impact. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed mercury in the late Maastrichtian from the base of C29r to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) n the astronomically tuned Elles section in Tunisia, and correlate this chemostratigraphic record with recent high-precision U-Pb geochronology of Deccan volcanism. Our results support that Hg is a robust indicator of LIP volcanism, and directly links Deccan volcanism to rapid global climate changes, ocean acidification and increasing environmental stress during the last 320-340 kyr of the Maastrichtian. Furthermore, our time-resolved Hg record and U-Pb resolved eruption volumes reveal paroxysmal volcanic eruptions (~30% by volume) during the final 35 kyr leading up to the KPB mass extinction.</p>

New insights about the processes leading to marine extinction at the K-Pg boundary using a coupled biogeochemical-ecosystem model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Hir Guillaume ◽  
fluteau fréderic ◽  
Hennequin Salome ◽  
Goddéris Yves
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Model ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Multiple Time Scales ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

<p>If most experts agree that the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction (66 Ma) resulted from a combination of the Chicxulub impact and of Deccan volcanism, the chain of reactions (Bond and Wignall, 2014) leading to the extinction is not well constrained. <br> <br> In the present study, we use the GEOCLIM model to explore extreme perturbations induced by the two events and to investigate processes leading to the marine extinction. This state-of-the-art numerical tool (geoclimmodel.wordpress.com) includes in particular a marine ecological model in which food webs are simulated and marine organisms are sensitive to abiotic factors of their environment. The characteristics of each “species” of marine organisms, such as the tolerance to pH or temperature changes or the efficiency of predation, are randomly fixed to avoid any determinism in the response to the environmental perturbations. </p><p>  The response of the Earth system to the onset of Deccan traps and to the Chicxulub impact is explored by forcing the model with the most recent “eruptive sequences”  (Schoene et al., 2019, Sprain et al. 2019) and with the assumption of a pulse-like degassing (Chenet et al. 2009) sequence over 500 kyrs that includes CO2 and SO2. This new approach allows us to take into account the interplays between the sulfur and carbon cycles on multiple time scales (from year to 105  yrs) and to capture the model sensitivity to the uncertainties in atmospheric emissions (duration, timing, nature of gases, intensity of pulses, intensity of the impact).</p><p>  The coupled evolution of the Earth’s climate and oceanic geochemistry during the K-Pg boundary crisis will be presented. Without considering evolution processes, the biotic response (biomass and biodiversity) will be discussed with respect to the ecosystem structure existing before the perturbations. </p>

The eruptive tempo of Deccan volcanism in relation to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 363 (6429) ◽  
pp. 866-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney J. Sprain ◽  
Paul R. Renne ◽  
Loÿc Vanderkluysen ◽  
Kanchan Pande ◽  
Stephen Self ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
High Precision ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Deccan Traps ◽  
Plumbing System ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Eruptive Volume ◽  
Magmatic Plumbing System

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 DT did 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.

Astronomical calibration of paleoclimatic and planktic foraminiferal events of the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition at Zumaia, Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Gilabert ◽  
Sietske J. Batenburg ◽  
Ignacio Arenillas ◽  
José A. Arz
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Deccan Traps ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
Environmental Events ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
Intense Debate

&lt;p&gt;The main trigger for the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction is still subject of intense debate. The co-occurrence of the Chicxulub impact (Yucatan, Mexico) and massive Deccan Traps volcanism (India) during Chron C29r hinders disentangling their climatic and environmental effects. Unravelling the influence of Deccan volcanism on the KPB extinction and other Maastrichtian and Danian perturbations requires more accurate age calibrations and duration estimates of biotic and climatic events. Here we integrate existing astrochronologies of the Zumaia section, allowing us to produce a refined cyclostratigraphic calibration of the main planktic foraminiferal and paleoclimatic events recorded across the KPB in the well-know Zumaia section (NW, Spain).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At Zumaia, the KPB is marked by a ~8 cm-thick dark clay bed, with low values of %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C. The Chicxulub ejecta-rich airfall layer has been identified at the base of the dark clay bed, but it is partially masked within a 1&amp;#8211;2 cm-thick diagenetic calcitic layer. At Zumaia, the KPB has been astronomically calibrated at 66 Ma (compatible with radioisotopic ages), and the duration of dark clay bed is estimated at ~10 kyr. The first appearances (FA) of the Danian planktic foraminiferal index-species &lt;em&gt;Parvularugoglobigerina longiapertura&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Parvularugoglobigerina eugubina&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Eoglobigerina simplicissima&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Parasubbotina pseudobulloides&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Subbotina triloculinoides&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Globanomalina compressa&lt;/em&gt; have been orbitally tuned at Zumaia, to have occurred at 8, 30, 45, 70, 210, and 475 kyr after the KPB. Specimens of &lt;em&gt;Plummerita hantkeninoides&lt;/em&gt; have been identified for the first time in the Maastrichtian of Zumaia, and its first occurrence is dated at ~100 kyr before the KPB. Based on d&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C data, we have identified the late Maastrichtian Warming Event (LMWE), the early Danian Dan-C2 and the Lower-C29N events. Additionally, a bloom of the eutrophic/opportunist genus&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;Chiloguembelitria&lt;/em&gt;, interpreted as a period of environmental stress, has also been recognized above and separate from the KPB clay bed. Besides the KPB, the main paleoclimatic/paleoenvironmental events have been astronomically calibrated at Zumaia as follows: the LMWE between 270 and 120 kyr before the KPB, the Dan-C2 event between 205 and 305 kyr after the KPB, the Lower-C29N event between 520 and 595 kyr after the KPB, and the Chiloguembelitria bloom&amp;#160;between 100 and 305 kyr after the KPB. According to this chronology, we conclude that the LMWE and early Danian &lt;em&gt;Chiloguembelitria&lt;/em&gt; bloom seems to coincide in time with major volcanic pulses of the Deccan Traps, unlike the Dan-C2 and Lower-C29N events, which appear to have been driven by orbital forcing. Regardless of the cause of climatic and environmental events, all these perturbations appear unrelated to the KPB mass extinction event. It supports the hypothesis that the influence of Deccan volcanism on planktic foraminiferal assemblages during the Maastrichtian and Danian was limited.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals An evaluation of Deccan Traps eruption rates using geochronologic data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Schoene ◽  
Michael P. Eddy ◽  
C. Brenhin Keller ◽  
Kyle M. Samperton
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Deccan Traps ◽  
Large Igneous Province ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Magnetic Reversal ◽  
Eruption Rate ◽  
Igneous Province ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chicxulub Impact

Abstract. Recent attempts to establish the eruptive history of the Deccan Traps large igneous province have used both U-Pb (Schoene et al., 2019) and 40Ar/39Ar (Sprain et al., 2019) geochronology. Both of these studies report dates with high precision and unprecedented coverage for a large igneous province, and agree that the main phase of eruptions began near the C30n-C29r magnetic reversal and waned shortly after the C29r-C29n reversal, totaling ~700-800 ka duration. Nevertheless, the eruption rates interpreted by the authors of each publication differ significantly. The U-Pb dataset was interpreted to indicate four major eruptive pulses, while the 40Ar/39Ar dataset was used to argue for an increase in eruption rates coincident with the Chicxulub impact (Renne et al., 2015; Richards et al., 2015). Although the overall agreement in duration is an achievement for geochronology, the disparate eruption models may act to undermine this achievement in the eyes of the broader geologic community. Here, we generate chronostratigraphic models for both datasets using the same statistical techniques and conclude that 1) age modeling of the 40Ar/39Ar dataset results in constant eruption rates with relatively large uncertainties through the duration of the Deccan Traps, and cannot verify or disprove the pulses identified by the U-Pb data, 2) the stratigraphic position of the Chicxulub impact within the 40Ar/39Ar dataset is much more uncertain than was presented in Sprain et al. (2019), and 3) neither dataset supports an increase in eruption rate as a result of the Chicxulub impact. While the production of precise and accurate geochronologic data is of course essential to studies of Earth History, our analysis underscores that the accuracy of a final result also is critically dependent on how such data are interpreted and presented to the broader community of geoscientists.

scholarly journals Ocean resurge-induced impact melt dynamics on the peak-ring of the Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix M. Schulte ◽  
◽  
Axel Wittmann ◽  
Stefan Jung ◽  
Joanna V. Morgan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Impact Structure ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Hydrothermal Conditions ◽  
Chemical Examination ◽  
Impact Melt ◽  
Target Rock ◽  
Single Process ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

AbstractCore from Hole M0077 from IODP/ICDP Expedition 364 provides unprecedented evidence for the physical processes in effect during the interaction of impact melt with rock-debris-laden seawater, following a large meteorite impact into waters of the Yucatán shelf. Evidence for this interaction is based on petrographic, microstructural and chemical examination of the 46.37-m-thick impact melt rock sequence, which overlies shocked granitoid target rock of the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact structure. The melt rock sequence consists of two visually distinct phases, one is black and the other is green in colour. The black phase is aphanitic and trachyandesitic in composition and similar to melt rock from other sites within the impact structure. The green phase consists chiefly of clay minerals and sparitic calcite, which likely formed from a solidified water–rock debris mixture under hydrothermal conditions. We suggest that the layering and internal structure of the melt rock sequence resulted from a single process, i.e., violent contact of initially superheated silicate impact melt with the ocean resurge-induced water–rock mixture overriding the impact melt. Differences in density, temperature, viscosity, and velocity of this mixture and impact melt triggered Kelvin–Helmholtz and Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities at their phase boundary. As a consequence, shearing at the boundary perturbed and, thus, mingled both immiscible phases, and was accompanied by phreatomagmatic processes. These processes led to the brecciation at the top of the impact melt rock sequence. Quenching of this breccia by the seawater prevented reworking of the solidified breccia layers upon subsequent deposition of suevite. Solid-state deformation, notably in the uppermost brecciated impact melt rock layers, attests to long-term gravitational settling of the peak ring.

Biogeochemical disruptions across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary : insights from sulfur isotopes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arbia Jouini
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Sulfur Isotopes ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Sulfur Cycle ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Organic Carbon Burial ◽  
Early Paleocene

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biogeochemical disruptions across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary : insights from sulfur isotopes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Arbia JOUINI&lt;sup&gt;1*&lt;/sup&gt;, Guillaume PARIS&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, Guillaume CARO&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, Annachiara BARTOLINI&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;1 &lt;/sup&gt;Centre de Recherches P&amp;#233;trographiques et G&amp;#233;ochimiques, CRPG-CNRS, UMR7358, ,15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP20, 54501Vandoeuvre-l&amp;#232;s-Nancy, France, email:[email protected]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; Mus&amp;#233;um National D&amp;#8217;Histoire Naturelle, D&amp;#233;partement Origines &amp; Evolution, CR2P MNHN, CNRS, Sorbonne Universit&amp;#233;, 8 rue Buffon CP38, 75005 Paris, France&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Cretaceous&amp;#8211;Paleogene (KPg) mass extinction event 66 million years ago witnessed one of the &amp;#8216;Big Five&amp;#8217; mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic. Two major catastrophic events, the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the Deccan trap eruptions, were involved in complex climatic and environmental changes that culminated in the mass extinction including oceanic biogenic carbonate crisis, sea water chemistry and ocean oxygen level changes. Deep understanding of the coeval sulfur biogeochemical cycle may help to better constrain and quantify these parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here we present the first stratigraphic high resolution isotopic compositions of carbonate associated sulfate (CAS) based on monospecific planktic and benthic foraminifers' samples during the Maastrichtian-Danian transition from IODP pacific site 1209C. Primary &amp;#948;34SCAS data suggests that there was a major perturbation of sulfur cycle around the KPg transition with rapid fluctuations (100-200kyr) of about 2-4&amp;#8240; (&amp;#177;0.54&amp;#8240;, 2SD) during the late Maastrichtian followed by a negative excursion in &amp;#948;34SCAS of 2-3&amp;#8240; during the early Paleocene.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An increase in oxygen levels associated with a decline in organic carbon burial, related to a collapse in primary productivity, may have led to the early Paleocene &amp;#948;34SCAS negative shift via a significant drop in microbial sulfate reduction. Alternatively, Deccan volcanism could also have played a role and impacted the sulfur cycle via direct input of isotopically light sulfur to the ocean. A revised correlation between &amp;#948;34SCAS data reported in this study and a precise dating of the Deccan volcanism phases would allow us to explore this hypothesis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keywords : KPg boundary, Sulphur cycle, cycle du calcium, Planktic and benthic foraminifera&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

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