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SUMMARY:Does the kiss of a LIP ever linger for long? - Professor Conall Ma
 c Niocaill (University of Oxford)
DTSTART:20150202T170000Z
DTEND:20150202T180000Z
UID:TALK54367@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jack Wright
DESCRIPTION:There is long-standing correlation between Large Igneous Provi
 nces (LIPs) and major mass extinction events in the Geological Record.  Th
 is is postulated to be due to the emission of large quantities of volcanic
  gases over a geologically short period of time\, causing major climatic p
 erturbations within the Earth system.  However tying down a causative mech
 anism is difficult because the timescales over which volcanic gases operat
 e in the atmosphere are short relative to our precision in dating.  I will
  present data on the eruptive timescales of two contrasting LIPs of simila
 r size: the well known 65Ma Deccan flood basalt province of India\, and th
 e 135Ma Paraná – Etendeka volcanic province of Brazil and Namibia.  The
  Deccan traps has been linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction\, and 
 I will present a magnetostratigraphic chronology that illustrates the diff
 iculty of nailing down an eruptive timescale.   Nevertheless the bulk of t
 he magmatism seems to have taken place in <1Myr.  In contrast the Paraná 
 – Etendeka volcanic province represents something of an enigma amongst L
 IPs as it is not linked to a known mass extinction event\, despite having 
 an erupted volume (>1 Mkm3) comparable to other LIPs associated with mass 
 extinctions\, such as the Siberian or Deccan traps.  I will present a new 
 magnetostratigraphic chronology for this LIP that suggests that the Paran
 á – Etendeka volcanic province was emplaced over longer timescales than
  other LIPs\, and / or emitted a lower concentration of volatiles\, direct
 ly or indirectly during its emplacement.   Our new chronology reveals a mi
 nimum period of volcanic activity in excess of 4 Myrs suggesting that the 
 anomalously feeble environmental impact of Paraná – Etendeka volcanism 
 may be due to lower effusion rates reducing the atmospheric loading due to
  volcanogenic volatiles.
LOCATION:Harker Room 1\, Department of Earth Sciences
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