Reconciling early Deccan Traps CO <sub>2</sub> outgassing and pre-KPB global climate
A. Hernandez Nava, Benjamin A. Black, Sally Gibson, Robert J. Bodnar, Paul R. Renne, L. Vanderkluysen
Abstract
Significance Carbon outgassing from Large Igneous Provinces has been invoked as a mechanism to drive major climate shifts throughout Earth’s history. However, the lack of direct constraints on evolving carbon release from magmas in these provinces represents a major challenge for understanding the relationship between magmatism and environmental change. This paper presents constraints on CO 2 contents of early Deccan Traps lavas based on studies of olivine-hosted melt inclusions. We use these data to evaluate links between early Deccan carbon outgassing and an episode of pronounced warming just prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. By accounting for evolving CO 2 budgets and degassing from intrusive magmas, this work quantitatively relates magma emplacement, outgassing, and observed changes in paleoclimate.