{"id":6022,"date":"2020-09-21T11:58:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T09:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/?p=6022"},"modified":"2020-09-21T11:58:14","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T09:58:14","slug":"mercury-linked-to-deccan-traps-volcanism-climate-change-and-the-end-cretaceous-mass-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/mercury-linked-to-deccan-traps-volcanism-climate-change-and-the-end-cretaceous-mass-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury linked to Deccan Traps volcanism, climate change and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authors:\u00a0<\/strong>GertaKeller .,PaulaMateob., Johannes Monkenbuschc., Nicolas Thibaultc., Jahnavi Punekard., Jorge E. Spangenberge., Sigal Abramovichf., Sarit Ashckenazi-Polivodag<\/strong><\/a>., Blair Schoenea., Michael P. Eddyh., Kyle M. Sampertoni., Syed F.R. Khadrij., Thierry Adattek<\/p>\n

Published in:<\/u><\/strong> Science Direct<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doi: <\/strong>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.gloplacha.2020.103312<\/a><\/p>\n

Correspondence:<\/u><\/strong> Sarit@adssc.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Keywords:\u00a0<\/strong>Deccan Traps volcanism,\u00a0<\/span>Mercury stratigraphy,\u00a0<\/span>End-Cretaceous,\u00a0<\/span>Mass extinction,\u00a0<\/span>Hyperthermal warming<\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

Mercury (Hg) anomalies linked to Large Igneous Provinces (LIP) volcanism have been identified in sediments across all five major mass extinctions in Earth’s history. This study tests whether Hg in marine sediments is a reliable proxy linking Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions to late Maastrichtian global climate warming and the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB). Our primary test site is the Elles section in Tunisia, the auxiliary Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) to El Kef. Elles has the most complete marine sedimentary record and a high average sedimentation rate of ~4.7\u00a0cm\/ky. We chose the Hor Hahar section in Israel to corroborate the geographic distribution of Hg fallout from Deccan volcanism. Reliability of the Hg proxy over the last 550 ky of the Maastrichtian to early Danian was evaluated based on high-resolution age control (orbital cyclostratigraphy), stable isotope climate record, Hg concentrations, biotic turnover and mass extinction. These results were correlated with the pulsed Deccan eruptive history constrained previously by U-Pb zircon geochronology.<\/p>\n

Our results support Hg as robust proxy for Deccan volcanism with large Hg spikes marking \u201cextreme event\u201d (EE) pulsed eruptions correlative with climate warming peaks separated by steady, less intense eruptions. Long-term global climate warming began near ~350 ky pre-KPB, reached maximum warming (3\u20134\u00a0\u00b0C) between 285 and 200 ky pre-KPB, followed by gradual cooling and rapid temperature drop between 45 and 25 ky pre-KPB. During the last 25 ky before the KPB, multiple Hg EE eruptions correlate with hyperthermal warming that culminated in the rapid mass extinction at Elles during \u22641000\u00a0years of the Cretaceous. These latest Cretaceous Hg peaks may correlate with massive, distal, Deccan-sourced lava flows (>1000\u00a0km long) that traversed the Indian subcontinent and flowed into the Bay of Bengal, bracketing the mass extinction. These results support Deccan volcanism as a primary driver of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 7. High-resolution planktic foraminifera and relative abundances, \u03b418O and Hg data at the astronomically tuned Elles section in Tunisia and comparison with \u03b418O data at Sites 525A and 1262, Deccan Traps stratigraphy and geochronology. Note the direct link between Hg anomalies and \u03b418O at Elles (and at Sites 525A and 1262) demonstrates the effect of Deccan volcanism on global climate; the rapid increase in Hg loading (paroxysmal Deccan eruptions) correlates to hyperthermal warming and surface ocean acidification during the last 25 ky pre-KPB, as also observed in C30n, lower C29n (CF2 and CF2\/CF1). Increased stress on marine life through the late Maastrichtian (increased relative abundance of disaster opportunist species, decreased specialist species) reached maximum during the last 25 ky pre-KPB and ended with the mass extinction. KPB age at 66.016 \u00b1 0.050 Ma and Deccan Traps U-Pb dates from Schoene et al., 2015, Schoene et al., 2019 and Eddy et al. (2020). Uncertainty in cyclostratigraphic ages: \u00b120 ky (one precession cycle). Ma: millions of years ago, ky: thousands of years.<\/dd>\n
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authors:\u00a0GertaKeller .,PaulaMateob., Johannes Monkenbuschc., Nicolas Thibaultc., Jahnavi Punekard., Jorge E. Spangenberge., Sigal Abramovichf., Sarit Ashckenazi-Polivodag., Blair Schoenea., Michael P. Eddyh., Kyle M. Sampertoni., Syed F.R. Khadrij., Thierry Adattek Published in: Science Direct Doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.gloplacha.2020.103312 Correspondence: Sarit@adssc.org Keywords:\u00a0Deccan Traps volcanism,\u00a0Mercury stratigraphy,\u00a0End-Cretaceous,\u00a0Mass extinction,\u00a0Hyperthermal warming Abstract Mercury (Hg) anomalies linked to Large Igneous Provinces (LIP) volcanism have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-article"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/SARIT_Fig.1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6026,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6022\/revisions\/6026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adssc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}