
Ulf Söderlund
Professor

High-precision dating of the Kalkarindji large igneous province, Australia, and synchrony with the Early-Middle Cambrian (Stage 4-5) extinction
Author
Summary, in English
The voluminous Kalkarindji flood basalts erupted in Australia during the Cambrian and covered >2 x 10(6) km(2). New U-Pb and Ar-40/Ar-39 age data from intrusive rocks and lava flows yielded statistically indistinguishable ages at ca. 511 Ma, suggesting a relatively brief emplacement for this province. A zircon age of 510.7 +/- 0.6 Ma shows that this province is temporally indistinguishable at the few-hundred-thousand-year level from the Early-Middle Cambrian (Stage 4-5) boundary age of 510 +/- 1 Ma, which marks the first severe extinction of the Phanerozoic and an extended marine anoxia period. Sulfur concentration measurements ranging from < 50 to 1900 mu g/g, and fractal analysis of extensive explosive volcanic breccias, suggest that blasts and phreatomagmatic explosions have contributed to injection of large amounts of sulfur into the stratosphere. In addition, magma intrusions in oil, gas, and sulfate deposits may have generated significant emission of CH4 and SO2 which, along with volcanic gases, would have combined to cause an oscillation of the climate and led to the Cambrian extinction.
Department/s
- Lithosphere and Biosphere Science
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Pages
543-546
Publication/Series
Geology
Volume
42
Issue
6
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Geological Society of America
Topic
- Geology
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0091-7613