Extinction (optical mineralogy)

Lava

Volcano

Physics

Cretaceous

Geology

Sociology

Demography

Paleontology

Effusive eruption

Basalt

Isotope

Geochemistry

Isotopes of carbon

Chemostratigraphy

Earth science

Deccan Traps

Population

Extinction event

Biological dispersal

Quantum mechanics

Volcanism

Flood basalt

Tectonics

Science

Two timelines for extinction The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction that wiped out the nonavian dinosaurs 66 million years ago was correlated with two extreme events: The Chicxulub impact occurred at roughly the same time that massive amounts of lava were erupting from the Deccan Traps (see the Perspective by Burgess). Sprain et al. used argon-argon dating of the volcanic ash from the Deccan Traps to argue that a steady eruption of the flood basalts mostly occurred after the Chicxulub impact. Schoene et al. used uranium-lead dating of zircons from ash beds and concluded that four large magmatic pulses occurred during the flood basalt eruption, the first of which preceded the Chicxulub impact. Whatever the correct ordering of events, better constraints on the timing and rates of the eruption will help elucidate how volcanic gas influenced climate. Science , this issue p. 866 , p. 862 ; see also p. 815

U-Pb constraints on pulsed eruption of the Deccan Traps across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction