Humongous Eruptions Linked to Dramatic Environmental Changes

摘要

Researchers looking for the cause of big, catastrophic changes on planet Earth have fingered a new one: so-called flood basalt eruptions, or large igneous provinces (LIPs) eruptions. These are no Mount St. Helenses or even Krakataus, which cooled the planet a degree or so and painted pretty sunsets for a couple of years. No, a single LIP eruption can spew 100 times the magma of anything seen in historical times. The 1000 such eruptions that can follow the first could build a lava pile of millions of cubic kilometers. Such massive volcanic activity seems to have dramatically altered the atmosphere and oceans for hundreds of thousands of years 94 million years, ago and again 56 million years ago, according to two new studies.