.2021 Apr 6;118(14):e2007797118.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007797118.

Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO₂ outgassing and pre-KPB global climate

Andres Hernandez Nava¹, Benjamin A Black^{2 3}, Sally A Gibson⁴, Robert J Bodnar⁵, Paul R Renne^{6 7}, Loÿc Vanderkluysen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016; bblack@ccny.cuny.edu.
³ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031.
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EQ Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060.
⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767.
⁷ Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA 94709.
⁸ Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

PMID:33782114
PMCID: PMC8040825
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2007797118

Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO₂ outgassing and pre-KPB global climate

Andres Hernandez Nava et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.2021.

.2021 Apr 6;118(14):e2007797118.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007797118.

Authors

Andres Hernandez Nava¹, Benjamin A Black^{2 3}, Sally A Gibson⁴, Robert J Bodnar⁵, Paul R Renne^{6 7}, Loÿc Vanderkluysen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016; bblack@ccny.cuny.edu.
³ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The City College of New York, City University of New York, New York, NY 10031.
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EQ Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060.
⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767.
⁷ Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA 94709.
⁸ Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

PMID:33782114
PMCID: PMC8040825
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2007797118

Abstract

A 2 to 4 °C warming episode, known as the Latest Maastrichtian warming event (LMWE), preceded the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction at 66.05 ± 0.08 Ma and has been linked with the onset of voluminous Deccan Traps volcanism. Here, we use direct measurements of melt-inclusion CO₂ concentrations and trace-element proxies for CO₂ to test the hypothesis that early Deccan magmatism triggered this warming interval. We report CO₂ concentrations from NanoSIMS and Raman spectroscopic analyses of melt-inclusion glass and vapor bubbles hosted in magnesian olivines from pre-KPB Deccan primitive basalts. Reconstructed melt-inclusion CO₂ concentrations range up to 0.23 to 1.2 wt% CO₂ for lavas from the Saurashtra Peninsula and the Thakurvadi Formation in the Western Ghats region. Trace-element proxies for CO₂ concentration (Ba and Nb) yield estimates of initial melt concentrations of 0.4 to 1.3 wt% CO₂ prior to degassing. Our data imply carbon saturation and degassing of Deccan magmas initiated at high pressures near the Moho or in the lower crust. Furthermore, we find that the earliest Deccan magmas were more CO₂ rich, which we hypothesize facilitated more efficient flushing and outgassing from intrusive magmas. Based on carbon cycle modeling and estimates of preserved lava volumes for pre-KPB lavas, we find that volcanic CO₂ outgassing alone remains insufficient to account for the magnitude of the observed latest Maastrichtian warming. However, accounting for intrusive outgassing can reconcile early carbon-rich Deccan Traps outgassing with observed changes in climate and atmospheric pCO₂.

Keywords: Deccan Traps; carbon release; end-Cretaceous; magmatic outgassing; paleoclimate.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

**Fig. 1.**
Map showing the location and extent of Deccan Traps volcanism, including the Saurashtra region. The stratigraphic column shows Deccan formations and the position of melt inclusion samples in this study. The stratigraphic relationship between the Saurashtra region and the Main Deccan Traps section is uncertain, but the earliest Saurashtra lavas are thought to predate the main Deccan Basalt Group (21).

**Fig. 2.**
Representative Raman spectrum for CO₂ showing the Fermi diad peaks that are located at 1,284.62 and 1,387.78 cm⁻¹ in this example. The spacing between the two CO₂ peaks, $Δ$ , is used to calculate the density of CO₂ in the bubble (68). The complete Raman spectrum of a melt inclusion (B4_SB_g9_MI11) along with the Ne lines that are used to calibrate the CO₂ peak positions (A), and the corresponding glassy, bubble-bearing melt inclusion is shown in inset (B).

**Fig. 3.**
CO₂ degassing trends for Deccan melt inclusions. The CO₂ lost to degassing at the time of melt inclusion entrapment is calculated as the difference between initial CO₂ based on Ba concentrations in each inclusion versus the reconstructed CO₂ concentration. Some melt inclusions lack trace-element data. For these inclusions, we used the mean Ba concentration in melt inclusions from that unit. We used VolatileCalc (47) to determine the saturation pressure of each melt inclusion (see text for details). (A) Melt inclusion data from the Thakurvadi Formation in the Western Ghats region. (B) Melt inclusion data from the Saurashtra region. (C) Saurashtra and Thakurvadi CO₂ versus Ba and (D) CO₂ versus Nb, compared with CO₂/Ba and CO₂/Nb ratios from refs. , , , .

**Fig. 4.**
Evolving CO₂ budgets for early Deccan Traps magmas and implications for latest Cretaceous climate. (A) CO₂ concentrations of Deccan melt inclusions and initial CO₂ concentrations based on trace element proxies from melt inclusion and whole-rock data, assuming CO₂/Ba = 48.3 and CO₂/Nb = 391 (38). Whole-rock trace element data from the Western Ghats region are from ref. . (B) Magnetostratigraphy from ref. . (C) The mean extrusive flux for each formation, calculated using the volumes estimated by ref. and the age model of ref. . The duration of volcanism in the Saurashtra region is uncertain. (D) A comparison of observed changes in latest Maastrichtian climate with changes modeled with LOSCAR. Ocean temperatures are from a benthic $δ$ ¹⁸O record from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program site 1262 on Walvis Ridge (18). LOSCAR results are shown for an I:E ratio of 0:1 (white) or 5:1 (blue shading), where the range reflects a climate sensitivity from 3 to 6 °C per doubling of CO₂ (75). Results are shown for lower and higher CO₂/Ba ratios (37, 38). SeeMaterials and Methods andSI Appendix for details of LOSCAR modeling.

**Fig. 5.**
A schematic showing CO₂ evolution from early (*Left*) to late (*Right*) Deccan based on initial CO₂ from trace elements and CO₂ saturation pressures. We hypothesize that declining initial CO₂ contents result from an expanding melting column and that higher initial CO₂ in the earliest Deccan magmas facilitated more efficient flushing and thus degassing of intrusive magmas. Adapted from ref. , with permission from Elsevier.

**Fig. 6.**
Cumulative Deccan carbon release for a range of I:E magma-emplacement ratios. (A) Cumulative carbon contribution based on mean melt inclusion Ba concentrations from Saurashtra and Thakurvadi lavas, melt inclusions from the Wai subgroup from ref. , and whole-rock Ba data from the remaining formations from ref. . These calculations assume CO₂/Ba = 48.3 (38). Increasing the assumed CO₂/Ba ratio would increase carbon release estimates proportionally. SeeSI Appendix, Table S1 for details of calculations. Estimates of (B) extrusive carbon release and (C) intrusive plus extrusive carbon release from the Deccan Traps from this study compared with estimates from the Siberian Traps (55), the North Atlantic Igneous Province (55), and the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (33). (D) The estimated carbon release per cubic kilometer of magma, assuming CO₂/Ba = 48.3 (38).

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Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO₂ outgassing and pre-KPB global climate

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Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO₂ outgassing and pre-KPB global climate

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