doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8284. Epub 2023 Oct 4.
Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas
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- PMID:37792933
- PMCID: PMC10550224
- DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8284
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Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas
Sara Callegaro et al. Sci Adv..
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Abstract
Two events share the stage as main drivers of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction-Deccan Traps volcanism, and an asteroid impact recorded by the Chicxulub crater. We contribute to refining knowledge of the volcanic stressor by providing sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan lavas from the Western Ghats (India), which straddle the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Volcanic fluorine budgets were variable (400 to 3000 parts per million) and probably sufficient to affect the environment, albeit only regionally. The highest sulfur budgets (up to 1800 parts per million) are recorded in Deccan lavas emplaced just prior (within 0.1 million years) to the extinction interval, whereas later basalts are generally sulfur-poor (up to 750 parts per million). Independent evidence suggests the Deccan flood basalts erupted in high-flux pulses. Our data suggest that volcanic sulfur degassing from such activity could have caused repeated short-lived global drops in temperature, stressing the ecosystems long before the bolide impact delivered its final blow at the end of the Cretaceous.
Figures
(A) Present-day distribution of the Deccan Traps in India. Samples investigated in this study come from the WG Escarpment, where the thickest and most complete lava piles are preserved. (B) Schematic volcanostratigraphy for the Main Deccan Volcanic Province (MDVP) in the WG (6). Ten lava formations and three subgroups are reported along with the number of samples analyzed for each formation. In this list, and in the dataset, we include three samples (D231, D241, and D244) collected at Mahabaleshwar that were previously analyzed by our group (31).
(A) Investigated lava samples plotted in stratigraphic order,y axis in meters of cumulative stratigraphic height. Six of the analyzed samples were previously dated by high-precision40Ar/39Ar geochronology (1,2) and are labeled in bold, with ages plotted as black circles. Additional40Ar/39Ar ages from other samples from the same lava pile are plotted as white circles. Uncertainty on each40Ar/39Ar age is shown at ±2 SD, including systematic sources. Age ranges for the KPB are reported in dotted purple for the40Ar/39Ar dataset (66.052 ± 0.008/0.04 Ma; external uncertainty in purple shade) (1,2) and in stapled green for the U-Pb dataset (66.016 ± 0.05/0.099 Ma; external uncertainty in green shade) (3,41). Lava formations: Ja, Jawhar; Ig, Igatpuri; Ne, Neral; Th, Thakurvadi; Bh, Bhimashankar; Kh, Khandala; Bu, Bushe; Po, Poladpur; Am, Ambenali; Ma, Mahabaleshwar. (B) Sulfur concentrations measured by synchrotron light x-ray fluorescence (SXRF) (n = 353 data points) in clinopyroxenes from 15 lava samples. Individual data points with their associated error bars (1 SD) are plotted. (C) Sulfur concentrations in clinopyroxene are reported as box plots, highlighting the petrological and statistical outliers. Each box extends from the 25th to the 75th percentile of the sample analyses, with the median reported as a red line and the mean as a black diamond. The whiskers extend outside each box from the end of the interquartile range to the furthest concentration within the whisker length (the adjacent value). Measured concentrations beyond the whisker length (i.e., more than 1.5 times the interquartile range) are marked as outliers, with crosses. Black crosses mark statistical outliers. Red crosses mark petrological outliers. The latter are reported in red in data S3 and not plotted in Fig. 4B.
(A) Investigated lava samples plotted in stratigraphic order,y axis in meters of cumulative stratigraphic height. Eight of the analyzed samples were previously dated by high-precision40Ar/39Ar geochronology (1,2) and are labeled in bold, with ages plotted as black circles. Additional40Ar/39Ar ages from other samples from the same lava pile are plotted as white circles. Uncertainty on each40Ar/39Ar age ± 2 SD, including systematic sources. Age ranges for the KPB are reported in dotted purple for the40Ar/39Ar dataset (66.052 ± 0.008/0.04 Ma; external uncertainty in purple shade) (1,2) and in stapled green for the U-Pb dataset (66.016 ± 0.05/0.099 Ma; external uncertainty in green shade) (3,41). (B) Fluorine concentrations measured by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) (n = 126 data points) in clinopyroxenes from 21 lava samples, plotted as individual data points. Associated error bars (±1 SD) are smaller than the symbol. (C) Fluorine concentrations measured in clinopyroxene are reported as box plots. Details on the box plot construction as in Fig. 2.
(A) Eruption rates for the WG Formations of the MDVP (1,41) based on approximate duration (horizontal length) and eruptive volume calculated by Richardset al. (36). The volume of each formation is 103 km3. Cumulative volumes reported for Kalsubai and Lonavala Subgroups (details in data S4). Red curve: Global temperature change across the KPB as 60-point fast Fourier transform smoother through a compilation of benthic δ18O [‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite (VPDB)] data (14). Curve plotted correlating magnetic reversals from (1,14). Purple arrow:40Ar/39Ar KPB age (66.016 ± 0.08/0.004 Ma) and highest probability stratigraphic position along WG (1,2,41). Blue dotted arrow: Probability of stratigraphic position of KPB age from (1,2) according to (41). Green stapled arrow: U-Pb KPB age (66.016 ± 0.05/0.099 Ma) and its highest probability position along the WG (3,24,41). Red arrow: Astronomically calibrated KPB age (66.022 ± 0.040 Ma) (87), tied to the paleotemperature curve of (14). Magnetozones from (78).40Ar/39Ar ages for magnetic reversals from (1). (B andC) Concentration of S (in parts per million) and F (in parts per million) in equilibrium melts calculated from clinopyroxene microanalyses (data S2). Concentrations are plotted per lava formation. Box-and-whiskers construction as in Fig. 2. Yellow horizontal bars in (B): Sulfur concentration at sulfide saturation (SCSS) calculated for each lava sample (46). SCSS values of different samples are plotted as stacked and centered on the formation of pertinence. We plotted (B) previously published S concentrations in melt inclusions in olivine and plagioclase from the MDVP (28), and S and F concentrations for Laki (Iceland), the Roza member of Columbia River Basalts (USA), and the Siberian Traps (, –50) for comparison. We plotted (C) fluorine concentrations measured in oceanic island (OIB) and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) (61).
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