title: Zircon U-Pb geochronology links the end-Triassic extinction with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.
abstract: The end-Triassic extinction is characterized by major losses in both terrestrial and marine diversity, setting the stage for dinosaurs to dominate Earth for the next 136 million years. Despite the approximate coincidence between this extinction and flood basalt volcanism, existing geochronologic dates have insufficient resolution to confirm eruptive rates required to induce major climate perturbations. Here, we present new zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) geochronologic constraints on the age and duration of flood basalt volcanism within the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. This chronology demonstrates synchroneity between the earliest volcanism and extinction, tests and corroborates the existing astrochronologic time scale, and shows that the release of magma and associated atmospheric flux occurred in four pulses over about 600,000 years, indicating expansive volcanism even as the biologic recovery was under way.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. tblackburn@ciw.edu
authors.forename: Terrence J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Blackburn
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Samuel A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bowring
authors.forename: Noah M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: McLean
authors.forename: Dennis V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puffer
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McHone
authors.forename: E Troy
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Rasbury
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Et-Touhami
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D057231:Climate Change; D018534:Earth, Planet; D007854:Lead; D017640:Silicates; D013997:Time Factors; D014501:Uranium; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions; D015040:Zirconium
chemical_list: D017640:Silicates; C060346:basalt; D007854:Lead; D014501:Uranium; C003784:zircon; D015040:Zirconium