Candidate volcanic and impact-induced ice depressions on Mars

Candidate volcanic and impact-induced ice depressions on Mars

Authors:

Levy et al

Abstract:

We present an analysis of two concentrically-fractured depressions on Mars, one in northern Hellas and the second in Galaxias Fossae. Volumetric measurements indicate that ∼2.4 km3 and ∼0.2 km3 of material was removed in order to form the North Hellas and Galaxias depressions. The removed material is inferred to be predominantly water ice. Calorimetric estimates suggest that up to ∼103–105 m3 of magma would have been required to melt/sublimate such a volume of ice under an ice/magma interaction scenario. This process would lead to subsidence and cracking of the surface, which could produce the observed concentric fracture (crevasse-like) morphology. While the Galaxias Fossae landform morphology is consistent with an impact origin, the large volume of removed material in North Hellas is less consistent with an impact origin and is interpreted to have resulted from volcanic melting of ice. The possibility of liquid water formation during or subsequent to volcanism or an impact could generate locally-enhanced habitable conditions, making these features tantalizing geological and astrobiological exploration targets.

A 6th Century Volcanic Eruption Disrupted Mayan Civilization

Explosive eruption of El Chichón volcano (Mexico) disrupted 6th century Maya civilization and contributed to global cooling

Authors:

Nooren et al

Abstract:

A remarkably long period of Northern Hemispheric cooling in the 6th century CE, which disrupted human societies across large parts of the globe, has been attributed to volcanic forcing of climate. A major tropical eruption in 540 CE is thought to have played a key role, but there is no consensus about the source volcano to date. Here, we present evidence for El Chichón in southern Mexico as the most likely candidate, based on a refined reconstruction of the volcano’s eruption history. A new chronological framework, derived from distal tephra deposits and the world’s largest Holocene beach ridge plain along the Gulf of Mexico, enabled us to positively link a major explosive event to a prominent volcanic sulfur spike in bipolar ice core records, dated at 540 CE. We speculate that voluminous tephra fall from the eruption had a severe environmental impact on Maya societies, leading to temporary cultural decline, site abandonment, and migration within the core area of Maya civilization.

Examining the Recent Volcanic Activity on Venus' Idunn Mons by Venus Express

Idunn Mons on Venus: location and extent of recently active lava flows

Authors:

D'Inecco et al

Abstract:

From 2006 until 2014 the ESA Venus Express probe observed the atmosphere and surface of the Earth's twin planet. The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) has provided data that indicate the occurrence of recent volcanic activity on Venus. We selected the eastern flank of Idunn Mons - Imdr Regio's single large volcano – as the study area, since it was identified in VIRTIS data as one of the regions with relatively high values of thermal emissivity at 1 μm wavelength. Using the capabilities of specific techniques developed in the Planetary Emissivity Laboratory group at DLR in Berlin, our study intends to identify location and extent of the sources of such anomalies, thus the lava flows responsible for the relatively high emissivity observed by VIRTIS over the eastern flank of Idunn Mons. We map the lava flow units on the top and eastern flank of Idunn Mons, varying the values of simulated 1 μm emissivity assigned to the mapped units. For each configuration we calculate the total RMS error in comparison with the VIRTIS observations. In the best-fit configuration, the flank lava flows are characterized by high values of 1 μm simulated emissivity. Hence, the lava flow units on the eastern flank on Idunn Mons are likely responsible for the relatively high 1 μm emissivity anomalies observed by VIRTIS. This result is supported by the reconstructed post-eruption stratigraphy, displaying the relative dating of the mapped lava flows, that is independent of the 1 μm emissivity modeling. Values of average microwave emissivity extracted from the lava flow units range around the global mean, which is consistent with dry basalts.

Did Mercury's Volcanic Activity End 3.5 Billion Years ago?

New research from North Carolina State University finds that major volcanic activity on the planet Mercury most likely ended about 3.5 billion years ago. These findings add insight into the geological evolution of Mercury in particular, and what happens when rocky planets cool and contract in general.

There are two types of volcanic activity: effusive and explosive. Explosive volcanism is often a violent event that results in large ash and debris eruptions, such as the Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980. Effusive volcanism refers to widespread lava flows that slowly pour out over the landscape -- believed to be a key process by which planets form their crusts.

Determining the ages of effusive volcanic deposits can give researchers a handle on a planet's geological history. For example, effusive volcanism was active a few hundred million years ago on Venus, a few million years ago on Mars, and it still takes place on Earth today. Until now, the duration of effusive volcanic activity on Mercury, made of the same materials as these other planets, had not been known.

NC State assistant professor and planetary geologist Paul Byrne and colleagues determined when the bulk of Mercury's crust-forming volcanism ended by using photographs of the surface imaged by NASA's MESSENGER mission. Because there are no physical samples from the planet that could be used for radiometric dating, the researchers used crater size-frequency analysis, in which the number and size of craters on the planet's surface are placed into established mathematical models, to calculate absolute ages for effusive volcanic deposits on Mercury.

According to their results, major volcanism on Mercury stopped at around 3.5 billion years ago, in stark contrast to the volcanic ages found for Venus, Mars and Earth.

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Recent volcanic resurfacing of Venusian craters

Recent volcanic resurfacing of Venusian craters

Authors:

Whitten et al

Abstract:

Ejecta from impact craters on Venus are a major source of fine-grained materials across the planet, and crater spatial distribution has been studied as a guide to the relative age and resurfacing rates of large regions. Of particular interest is the potential intersection of distal crater deposits and tesserae, highly deformed landforms that may be the oldest materials on Venus. The composition of tesserae is unknown, but is key to understanding whether water played a role in crustal differentiation. Thus, tesserae are ideal sites for future landed missions to identify possible felsic materials, but the short lifespan of surface landers means that efforts must be made to avoid contaminating surface materials from craters. Here we develop a method to detect distal crater ejecta on tessera terrain across Venus using NASA Magellan radar data. Our results show that fine-grained ejecta are unevenly distributed in the tesserae with respect to nearby craters. Many tesserae within a few hundred kilometers of plains craters do not have evidence for thick (greater than 5–10 cm) mantling material, indicating that eolian or mass-wasting processes have moved the debris off the highland ridge slopes. At Sudenitsa Tesserae, within the young Beta-Atla-Themis region, we observe a radar signature of mantling debris, but there is no apparent source crater to which this material can be traced. We infer that the source crater has been resurfaced by volcanic activity within the past 80 m.y., and suggest that similar fine-grained ejecta deposits may have built up over time in other tesserae across Venus.

How did the Southeast Maya Survive Volcanic Eruptions?

Across the centuries, forming cooperative networks beyond cultural boundaries has been a way to overcome natural disasters.

A Nagoya University researcher and his leading international research group discovered a Great Platform built with different kinds of stone at the archeological site of San Andrés, El Salvador, and challenged the prevailing theory regarding the sociocultural development of Southeastern Maya frontier.

San Andrés is located in the Zapotitan Valley, El Salvador, known as Southeastern Maya zone. Archaeological investigation conducted during 40's and 90's has shown that San Andrés had long human occupation beginning from the Middle Preclassic (ca. 600 BC) until the Early Postclassic (ca. AD 1200), in which had role as political, economic and religious center during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900). As San Andrés has been affected by numerous explosive eruptions -- at least three or four -- during the past two millennia, archaeologists have been interested to understand the role of volcanic eruptions in human history.

Between February and May of 2016, the research group led by Assistant Prof. Akira Ichikawa of the Institute for Advanced Research and at the Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University, made a new discovery that allowed them to reconsider the recovery process from the volcanic eruption of Ilopango (ca. AD 400-450), which was one of the greatest Holocene eruptions in Central America. Assistant Prof. Ichikawa explained: "We have discovered a masonry platform just above the ash caused by the Ilopango eruption in San Andrés, which could prove that people reoccupied in such a devastated area even immediately after the enormous disaster occurred."

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Venus was Recently Resurfaced

Mantle potential temperature estimates of basalt from the surface of Venus

Author:

Shellnutt

Abstract:

The crater density and distribution of Venus indicates the average surface age is younger (≤1 Ga) than most terrestrial planets and satellites in the Solar System. The type and rate (i.e. equilibrium, catastrophic or differential) of volcanism associated with the stagnant lid tectonic system of Venus is a first order problem that has yet to be resolved but is directly related to the thermal conditions of the mantle. The calculated primary melt composition of basalt at the Venera 14 landing site is high-Mg basalt to picrite with a mantle potential temperature estimate similar to terrestrial ambient mantle (1370 ± 70 °C). The calculated accumulated fractional melting curves indicate the olivine compositions from the melt have Mg# of 89–91. The results show that the thermal regime required to generate the primary melt composition of the Venera 14 basalt was not anomalously high (i.e. mantle-plume system) but rather consistent with a lithospheric tensional rift system. The juxtaposition of high thermal regime structures (e.g. Beta Regio) and ‘ambient’ mantle potential temperature estimates of the Venera 14 basalt suggests that the relatively young surface of Venus is the result of volcanism from a combination of thermal systems that resurfaced the planet at variable rates.

Did two Volcanic Eruptions in 536 & 540 AD Change the Course of History?

Contemporary chroniclers wrote about a "mystery cloud" which dimmed the light of the sun above the Mediterranean in the years 536 and 537 CE. Tree rings testify poor growing conditions over the whole Northern Hemisphere - the years from 536 CE onward seem to have been overshadowed by an unusual natural phenomenon. Social crises including the first European plague pandemic beginning in 541, are associated with this phenomenon. Only recently have researchers found conclusive proof of a volcanic origin of the 536 solar dimming, based on traces of volcanic sulfur from two major eruptions newly dated to 536 CE and 540 CE in ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica.

An international team of climate scientists led by Dr. Matthew Toohey at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Prof. Dr. Kirstin Krüger of the University of Oslo (UiO), with financial support from the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) at the UiO, have investigated the time period using the new ice core data, historical evidence and climate models. As they write in the international journal Climatic Change, the impact of the volcanic double event of 536/540 on Northern Hemisphere climate was stronger than any other documented or reconstructed event of the past 1200 years. "One of the eruptions would have led to a significant cooling of the Earth's surface. Two of them, so close in time, caused what is probably the coldest decade of the past 2000 years," says Dr. Matthew Toohey from GEOMAR, lead author of the study today at a press conference at the annual EGU Meeting in Vienna where he presented the results.

To simulate the impact of the 536 and 540 eruptions, the scientists used the available data from ice cores and the descriptions of the solar dimming from contemporary scholars. With this data they estimated the magnitude of the eruptions and their approximate locations on Earth, and then simulated the spread and impacts of the aerosol clouds resulting from the volcanic injection of sulfur into the stratosphere. This revealed that following the eruptions, the solar radiation at the Earth's surface was strongly reduced over the Northern Hemisphere for several years, and caused decreases in the hemispheric average temperature of up to 2 degrees Celsius.

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Detecting volcanism on Titan and Venus with microwave radiometry

Detecting volcanism on Titan and Venus with microwave radiometry

Authors:

Lorenz et al

Abstract:

The detection by spaceborne instrumentation of infrared thermal emission from volcanic eruptions is well-established on Earth, but is challenged on Venus and Titan by their optically-thick atmospheres. Microwave radiometry in principle offers the ability to detect emission from surface thermal anomalies on these worlds due to greater atmospheric transparency: microwaves also offer the prospect of sensing the shallow subsurface and thus may detect warmth from lava flows for longer than surface infrared emission. However, satellite microwave instruments typically have low spatial resolution (10s of km) so volcanic heat is diluted in the wide instrument footprint. We examine the prospects for the detection of volcanic deposits by microwave, given likely planetary eruption rates and lava flow deposit geometries, using Mt Etna as a template. Nondetection of prominent hotspots in Cassini data may imply that the resurfacing rate is lower than ∼2 km3/yr, five times smaller than the expression of an Earth-like fraction of geothermal heat flow as latent heat in extrusive volcanism.

Did the Tharsis Volcanic Eruptions Tilt Mars on its Axis During the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian?

Late Tharsis formation and implications for early Mars

Authors:

Bouley et al

Abstract:

The Tharsis region is the largest volcanic complex on Mars and in the Solar System. Young lava flows cover its surface (from the Amazonian period, less than 3 billion years ago) but its growth started during the Noachian era (more than 3.7 billion years ago). Its position has induced a reorientation of the planet with respect to its spin axis (true polar wander, TPW), which is responsible for the present equatorial position of the volcanic province. It has been suggested that the Tharsis load on the lithosphere influenced the orientation of the Noachian/Early Hesperian (more than 3.5 billion years ago) valley networks1 and therefore that most of the topography of Tharsis was completed before fluvial incision. Here we calculate the rotational figure of Mars (that is, its equilibrium shape) and its surface topography before Tharsis formed, when the spin axis of the planet was controlled by the difference in elevation between the northern and southern hemispheres (hemispheric dichotomy). We show that the observed directions of valley networks are also consistent with topographic gradients in this configuration and thus do not require the presence of the Tharsis load. Furthermore, the distribution of the valleys along a small circle tilted with respect to the equator is found to correspond to a southern-hemisphere latitudinal band in the pre-TPW geographical frame. Preferential accumulation of ice or water in a south tropical band is predicted by climate model simulations of early Mars applied to the pre-TPW topography. A late growth of Tharsis, contemporaneous with valley incision, has several implications for the early geological history of Mars, including the existence of glacial environments near the locations of the pre-TPW poles of rotation, and a possible link between volcanic outgassing from Tharsis and the stability of liquid water at the surface of Mars.

SETI Talk on High Temperature Volcanism During the Archean

Explosive Underwater Volcanoes a Major Feature of Snowball Earth During Cryogenian NeoProterozoic

Around 720-640 million years ago, much of the Earth's surface was covered in ice during a glaciation that lasted millions of years. Explosive underwater volcanoes were a major feature of this 'Snowball Earth', according to new research led by the University of Southampton.

Many aspects of this extreme glaciation remain uncertain, but it is widely thought that the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia resulted in increased river discharge into the ocean. This changed ocean chemistry and reduced atmospheric CO2 levels, which increased global ice coverage and propelled Earth into severe icehouse conditions.

Because the land surface was then largely covered in ice, continental weathering effectively ceased. This locked the planet into a 'Snowball Earth' state until carbon dioxide released from ongoing volcanic activity warmed the atmosphere sufficiently to rapidly melt the ice cover. This model does not, however, explain one of the most puzzling features of this rapid deglaciation; namely the global formation of hundreds of metres thick deposits known as 'cap carbonates', in warm waters after Snowball Earth events.

[...]

Lead author of the study Dr Tom Gernon, Lecturer in Earth Science at the University of Southampton, said: "When volcanic material is deposited in the oceans it undergoes very rapid and profound chemical alteration that impacts the biogeochemistry of the oceans. We find that many geological and geochemical phenomena associated with Snowball Earth are consistent with extensive submarine volcanism along shallow mid-ocean ridges."

During the breakup of Rodinia, tens of thousands of kilometres of mid-ocean ridge were formed over tens of millions of years. The lava erupted explosively in shallow waters producing large volumes of a glassy pyroclastic rock called hyaloclastite. As these deposits piled up on the sea floor, rapid chemical changes released massive amounts of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus into the ocean.

Dr Gernon explained: "We calculated that, over the course of a Snowball glaciation, this chemical build-up is sufficient to explain the thick cap carbonates formed at the end of the Snowball event.

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There Might be *MUD*VOLCANOES* in the Chryse Planitia on Mars

Small edifice features in Chryse Planitia, Mars: Assessment of a mud volcano hypothesis

Authors:

Komatsu et al

Abstract:

Small edifice features that are less than a few kilometers in diameter and up to a few hundred meters in height are widely distributed in Chryse Planitia on Mars. They exhibit a broad range of morphological properties that are here classified as Type 1 (steep-sided cones typically with a summit crater), Type 2 (nearly flat features with single or multiple central/summit craters or cones) and Type 3 (nearly circular features in plan view, characterized by steep sides and a broadly flat summit area). Their origins have not been determined with certainty, but our study utilizing the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images supports the interpretation of mud volcanism, based on the observed morphological characteristics of these small edifices and comparisons with terrestrial analogs. Additionally, hydrated minerals detected on these edifice features in data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), further support the mud volcano hypothesis. Injection features such as clastic mega-pipes and sand blow features may coexist with the mud volcanoes. Alternative mechanisms such as magmatic volcanism are not excluded, but they have less support from our remote sensing observations. Further confirmation or rejection of the mud volcano hypothesis will require in-situ investigation by landers or rovers.

Galaxias Mons may Have Been Formed From a Subglacial Volcanic Eruption

Possible sub-glacial eruptions in the Galaxias Quadrangle, Mars

Authors:

Mouginis-Mark et al

Abstract:

We have identified several landforms in the Galaxias Quadrangle of Mars (MTM 35217), 33.0–35.5°N, 216.0–218.0°W which are consistent with this area having been covered by an ancient ice sheet concurrent with volcanic eruptions. Volcanic activity was initiated by the intrusion of several large dikes measuring ∼50–100 m wide and protruding up to ∼35 m above the present-day surface. These dikes appear to have originated from Elysium Planitia ∼600 km to the SE. In one instance, a dike (at an elevation of −3750 m) appears to have produced a subglacial mound (referred to here as “Galaxias Mons 2”) that evolved into an extrusive eruption and produced copious volumes of melt water that carved an outflow channel that extends almost 300 km to the north. At a lower elevation (−3980 m), a second putative dike may have failed to break the surface of the ice sheet and formed Galaxias Mons as a laccolithic intrusion. We numerically model the formation of Galaxias Mons and find that at least 200 m of ice may once have existed at this latitude at the time of the dike intrusions. Such a conclusion supports the idea that enigmatic small domes in the area may be pingoes. Collectively, these observations suggest that the previous interpretations for the origin of near-by Hrad Vallis as a sub-aerial eruption may need to be revised.

Archaean Volcanic Sediment From MesoArchean to NeoArchean in Finland

U-Pb geochronology of Archaean volcanic-sedimentary sequences in the Kuhmo greenstone belt, Karelia Province–multiphase volcanism from Meso- to Neoarchaean and an Archaean depositional basin?

Authors:

Lehtonen et al

Abstract:

The Kuhmo greenstone belt in eastern Finland is one of the most studied areas of the Karelia Province. A single-grain zircon U-Pb study of andesitic, trachyandesitic and dacitic volcanic rocks from the belt demonstrates multiple widely spaced ages of the rocks. The results show that the volcanic activity took place as two major episodes at ca. 2847–2836 Ma and ca. 2799–2792 Ma, both containing komatiitic members as well as volcanic-sedimentary units. Based on the geochronological results combined with previously published data, we propose a chronostratigraphic interpretation for the Kuhmo greenstone belt, dividing it into three units: the Nuolikangas and Siivikkovaara volcanic units, and the sedimentary Ronkaperä unit. The results support the previous interpretation that age period of 2.80–2.79 Ga was an important crustal forming episode in the Kuhmo area. The zircon populations in the uppermost sedimentary rocks contain greater than 3.0 Ga zircon grains that are older than the volcanic rocks found in the greenstone belt. The youngest detrital zircon populations, ca. 2.73 Ga and 2.70 Ga in a conglomerate and quartz sandstone, respectively, imply that they were deposited at least ca. 60–90 Ma after the last volcanic phase. Based on the detrital zircon record, it can be interpreted that during the deposition of the detritus of the sedimentary rocks belonging to the Ronkaperä unit, the Karelia subprovinces were likely juxtaposed together and acted as a source provenance for the detritus.

How Volcanic Eruptions & Sulfur can Effect Clouds

It has long been suspected that sulfur emissions can brighten clouds. Water droplets tend to clump around particles of sulfuric acid, causing smaller droplets that form brighter, more reflective clouds.

But while humans have pumped sulfur into Earth's atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, it's been hard to measure how this affects the clouds above. New University of Washington research uses a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland to measure the change.

The new study, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, shows that sulfur emissions do indeed result in smaller cloud droplet size, leading to brighter clouds that reflect significantly more sunlight.

"This eruption is a chance to nail down one of the big uncertainties in climate models," said first author Daniel McCoy, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences.

The study takes advantage of a unique geologic event. During six months from summer 2014 until early 2015, a crack in the Bardarbunga volcano seeped lava and sulfur gas. This was not one of Iceland's huge explosive eruptions that fill the skies with ash and shut down airplane routes. Instead it was a long, slow, low-elevation seep of sulfur emissions that produced an amount of lava second only to Laki in the recent history of Iceland eruptions.

The UW researchers looked at data for that region recorded by NASA's MODIS, or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, instrument to measure the size of droplets in the marine cloud layer. While the volcano was spewing sulfur, the droplets were the smallest in the 14-year record of observations.

"You can see the effect over an entire ocean for a two-month period," McCoy said. "It was a pretty unique geophysical event within the satellite record."

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Did Massive Northern Hemisphere Volcanic Eruptions Warm and Disrupt the Pleistocene Quaternary Antarctic Ice Sheet?

Massive volcanic eruptions could cause localised warming that might destabilise some of the world's biggest ice sheets, according to new research from Durham University.

Scientists investigated links between very large volcanic eruptions and polar temperatures during the last Ice Age.

Their findings suggest that some periods of Antarctic warming between 30,000 to 80,000 years ago were triggered by huge volcanic eruptions in the Northern Hemisphere that caused a shift in the world's weather patterns.

The Northern Hemisphere cooled as volcanic particles reflected the sun's heat, forcing warmer weather fronts south which led to warming in Antarctica, the researchers said.

Conversely, their research suggests that Southern Hemisphere eruptions could also have triggered abrupt warming in Greenland during the last Ice Age.

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Did a Magma Injection Into Organic Sediments at the Barremian/Aptian Boundary Release Carbon Gases, Trigger Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a?

The Early Cretaceous Barents Sea Sill Complex: Distribution, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, and implications for carbon gas formation

Authors:

Ploteau et al

Abstract:

Mafic igneous rocks of Cretaceous age (80–130 Ma) scattered around the Arctic Ocean are commonly referred to as the High Arctic Large Igneous Province (HALIP). We have mapped out the distribution of HALIP igneous rocks in the Barents Sea region over the past decade based on integrated seismic–gravity–magnetic interpretation, field work, review of publications, and analyses of new and vintage borehole and field samples. The mapping reveals abundant igneous rocks in the northern and eastern Barents Sea covering an area of ~ 900,000 km2 with a conservative volume estimate of 100,000 to 200,000 km3 of intrusions. The igneous province is dominated by sheet intrusions injected into Triassic and Permian sedimentary rocks. Hydrothermal vent complexes are rare, and only two potential vent complexes have been identified on seismic data in the eastern Barents Sea. We have further done extensive radiometric dating of the igneous samples in the Barents Sea region. New 40Ar/39Ar dating of thirteen samples from Svalbard reveal ages of crystallization and alteration. The large age span (60–140 Ma for the raw ages) is likely due to partial or complete overprint of the K/Ar system in plagioclase, and the age of the magma emplacement is better represented by U/Pb TIMS ages. Only one of our 40Ar/39Ar analyses of plagioclase yielded a statistically valid age that is in line with the recently published U/Pb TIMS ages of 122–125 Ma. The new data clearly document that relying on published data from the K/Ar system can lead to erroneous conclusions on the age of crystallization in this province without a careful use of additional 40Ar/39Ar degassing data (i.e., K/Ca). We propose that the magmatism on Svalbard and Franz Josef Land represents a distinct magmatic event near the Barremian/Aptian boundary (125 Ma) in the Barents Sea. This Early Cretaceous Barents Sea magmatism resulted in the formation of the BSSC (Barents Sea Sill Complex). BSSC age rocks are also present in Arctic Canada (Sverdrup Basin) and on Bennett Island (New Siberia Islands). The massive injection of hot magma into potentially organic-rich sediments in the eastern and northern Barents Basin caused rapid organic matter maturation and formation of thermogenic gas and oil in contact aureoles. We estimate that up to 20,000 Gt of carbon were potentially mobilized, corresponding to 175 trillion barrels of oil equivalent. The production rates and fate of the carbon gases are uncertain. However, we speculate that rapid release of aureole greenhouse gases (methane) may have triggered the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) and the associated negative δ13C excursion in the Early Aptian. Some of the methane may also be trapped in the vast hydrocarbon gas accumulations found in the east Barents Basin.

YAGUMETs! Flood Basalt Eruptions Mass Extinction Impacts are Depend on WHERE the Eruption Takes Place

The effects of large igneous provinces on the global carbon and sulphur cycles

Authors:

Jones et al

Abstract:

The correlation between large igneous provinces (LIPs), extinction events, and rapid climate change suggests that volcanism can have a detrimental impact on Earth surface conditions. Changes in atmospheric and ocean chemistry, particularly the climate-sensitive carbon and sulphur cycles, are among the most probable processes for inducing global environmental stress. However, the interactions and feedbacks between volcanism and these cycles are numerous and complex, making the characterisation of the response to a LIP challenging. Here we summarise the sources and sinks of carbon and sulphur from large scale volcanism and magmatism using information from modern and ancient systems. For the sources, we review the current understanding of volcanic emissions, and explore the relative contributions and importance of magma-derived degassing versus volatile release from sediments affected by igneous intrusions and lava. In addition, we explore the various ways in which LIPs can reduce atmospheric concentrations of these same elements. The relative influences of each source and sink are in part determined by the mode of LIP emplacement and eruption style, along with the subsequent timescales of such effects. We focus on a few key examples, including the Siberian Traps, the Paraná-Etendeka, and the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), to demonstrate how the environmental impact can vary considerably with differing modes of emplacement, LIP duration, and eruption styles. In particular, we show that the host rocks can have a dominant role as a source or sink of emissions, depending on the lithologies affected by the LIP emplacement.

Australian Kalkarindji Continental Flood Basalt Probably did NOT Cause Cambrian Mass Extinction

The Giant Lavas of Kalkarindji: rubbly pāhoehoe lava in an ancient continental flood basalt province

Authors:

Marshall et al

Abstract:

The Kalkarindji continental flood basalt province of northern Australia erupted in the mid Cambrian (c. 511-505 Ma). It now consists of scattered basaltic lava fields, the most extensive being the Antrim Plateau Volcanics (APV) – a semi-continuous outcrop (c. 50,000 km2) reaching a maximum thickness of 1.1 km. Cropping out predominately in the SW of the APV, close to the top of the basalt succession, lies the Blackfella Rockhole Member (BRM). Originally described as ‘basaltic agglomerate’ the BRM has, in recent years, been assumed to be explosive tephra of phreatomagmatic origin, thus providing a potent vehicle for volatile release to the upper atmosphere. Our detailed field investigations reveal that this basaltic agglomerate is, in reality, giant rubble collections (15–20 m thick) forming the upper crusts of rubbly pāhoehoe lava units 25–40 m thick; covering 18,000–72,000 km2 and an estimated volume of 1,500–19,200 km3. These flows, rheologically but not chemically, distinct from the majority of Kalkarindji lavas, indicate a fundamental change in eruption dynamics. A low volatile content, induced high amounts of pre-eruptive degassing causing super-cooling and an increase in crystal nucleation and viscosity. A more viscous lava and a consistently faster rate of effusion (analogous to that of Laki, Iceland) created the flow dynamics necessary to disturb the lava crust to the extent seen in the BRM. Volatile release is estimated at 1.65 × 104–2.11 × 105 Tg total CO2 at a rate of 867 Tg a- 1 and 9.07 × 103–1.16 × 105 Tg SO2 at 476.50 Tg a- 1. These masses accounted for 0.5% of Cambrian atmospheric conditions whilst limiting factors reduced the effect of volatile delivery to the atmosphere, thus any potential global impact caused by these flows alone was minimal.