Article

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

Courtney J. SprainDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, 307 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767, USAPaul R. RenneBerkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, USAL. VanderkluysenDepartment of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, 3245 Chestnut Street, PISB 123, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USAKanchan PandeDepartment of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, IndiaStephen SelfDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, 307 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767, USATushar MittalDepartment of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, 307 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767, USA

2019en

ABI

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 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.

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1126/science.aav1446

Citations and references

Cited by 20 references

Metrics — AkademScholar