How variations in the rates of effusive basaltic flood volcanism

versusaerosol-forming explosive volcanism

have driven climate changeand rates of mass extinction

throughout Earth historyEffusive basaltic Explosive

Bárðarbunga 2014 Pinatubo 1991USGS© Arctic-Images/Corbis

Zielinski et al., 1996

Basaltic volcanism warmed the world out of the last ice age

Mayewski et al., 1995

Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2

Zielinski et al., 1996

Basaltic volcanism warmed the world out of the last ice age

Licciardi et al., 2007

Mayewski et al., 1995

Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2

Herðubreið

© Arctic-Images/CorbisBárðarbunga, central Iceland, 2014

© Arctic-Images/CorbisBárðarbunga, central Iceland, 2014

In only 6 months, it oozed basaltic lava over an area of 85 km2, the size of Manhattan

This was the highest rate of basalt extrusion since the eruption of Laki in 1783

A rate more than 30 times higher than observed in Hawaii

Laki 1783565 km2 in 8 months

Temperatures raised 3.3oC, tens of thousands killed primarily by the effects of sulfuric acid

Laki 1783 Eldgjá 935

Led to the onset of theMedieval Warm Period

565 km2 in 8 months 800 km2 in 3-8 years

volc

ano.

oreg

onst

ate.

edu

Temperatures raised 3.3oC, tens of thousands killed primarily by the effects of sulfuric acid

SiberianBasalts

SiberianBasalts

7,000,000 km2

SiberianBasalts

SiberianBasalts

7,000,000 km2

96% marine70% terrestrial

vertebrates

SiberianBasalts

SiberianBasalts

CentralAtlantic

MagmaticProvince

7,000,000 km2 11,000,000 km2

96% marine70% terrestrial

vertebrates

DeccanBasalts

SiberianBasalts

SiberianBasalts

CentralAtlantic

MagmaticProvince

DeccanBasalts

7,000,000 km2 11,000,000 km2 500,000 km2

96% marine70% terrestrial

vertebrates

Mass extinctions versus flood basalts

Courtillot and Renne 2003

Ages

of m

ass

extin

ctio

ns a

nd o

cean

ic a

noxi

a ev

ents

Ages of continental flood basalt or oceanic plateausAges of effusive basaltic lava flows

Ages

of m

ass e

xtin

ctio

ns

Extrusion of basaltic magma reached a peak 56 million years ago during the rifting of the Greenland-

Norwegian Sea

Storey et al. 2007

Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum

Mass extinctions versus flood basalts

Courtillot and Renne 2003

Ages

of m

ass

extin

ctio

ns a

nd o

cean

ic a

noxi

a ev

ents

Ages of continental flood basalt or oceanic plateausAges of effusive basaltic lava flows

Ages

of m

ass e

xtin

ctio

ns

Typically end geologic eras,periods, and

epochs

Rift-related, effusive, basaltic, volcanic eruptionswarm Earth suddenly

Extrude basaltic lava for months to hundreds of thousands of years

Cause major warming of air and, over millennia, of oceans

Cause major ocean acidity (sulfuric acid from SO2 and H2S)

Cause major mass extinctions especially when lasting for long periods

The greater the duration, the greater the warming and extinctions

Range in size from Hawaii to Large Igneous Provinces

Bárðarbunga largest since 1783—explains why 2016 hottest year

A fundamentally different type of volcanic eruption

Erupt for days, may recur within 500 to 1000 yearsDeplete ozone causing short-term warming

Pinatubo June 1991USGS

Subduction-related, explosive, volcanic eruptions cool Earth incrementally over centuries

Pinatubo warmed 3.5oCDec 1991 to Feb 1992

Robock, 2002

A fundamentally different type of volcanic eruption

Erupt for days, may recur within 500 to 1000 years

Pinatubo warmed 3.5oCDec 1991 to Feb 1992

Robock, 2002

Form aerosols in the lower stratosphere thatlast for years, scattering and reflecting solarenergy, causing net global cooling 0.5oC, 3 years

Deplete ozone causing short-term warming

Pinatubo June 1991USGS

Subduction-related, explosive, volcanic eruptions cool Earth incrementally over centuries

A fundamentally different type of volcanic eruption

Erupt for days, may recur within 500 to 1000 years

Pinatubo warmed 3.5oCDec 1991 to Feb 1992

Krakatau (1883) cooled oceanfor more than 100 years

Robock, 2002 Gleckler et al., 2006

Form aerosols in the lower stratosphere thatlast for years, scattering and reflecting solarenergy, causing net global cooling 0.5oC, 3 years

Deplete ozone causing short-term warming

Pinatubo June 1991USGS

Subduction-related, explosive, volcanic eruptions cool Earth incrementally over centuries

A fundamentally different type of volcanic eruption

Erupt for days, may recur within 500 to 1000 years

Pinatubo warmed 3.5oCDec 1991 to Feb 1992

Krakatau (1883) cooled oceanfor more than 100 years

Multiple eruptions increment world into an ice age

Robock, 2002 Gleckler et al., 2006 Gregory et al., 2006

Form aerosols in the lower stratosphere thatlast for years, scattering and reflecting solarenergy, causing net global cooling 0.5oC, 3 years

Deplete ozone causing short-term warming

Pinatubo June 1991USGS

Krakatau PinatuboEl C

hichón

AgungSubduction-related, explosive, volcanic eruptions

cool Earth incrementally over centuries

12,000 to 9,000

Rapid global warmingrift-related

Slow global coolingsubduction-related

Gregory et al., 2006

Erratic sequences of rapid warming followed by slower cooling

End ofIce Age

Dansgaard-Oeschger events

EemianInterglacial

NGRIP 2004

Erratic sequences of rapid warming followed by slower cooling

End ofIce Age

Dansgaard-Oeschger eventsErratic sudden major warming within a few years followed by

cumulative cooling over centuries to millennia

EemianInterglacial

Explained most clearly by a balance between effusive and explosive volcanic eruptions NGRIP 2004

On average, one sequence every 5000 years, but not cyclic

DARKAGES

LITTLEICE AGE

HEBREWEXODUS

FROM EGYPT

ERA OFGREAT

MIGRATION

0 AD

0 AD

1000 20002000 BC

JAMESTOWNFOUNDED

VIKINGS TOGREENLAND

WARM

COOL

MEDIEVALWARM

PERIOD

Harris and Mann, 2014

ROMAN EMPIRE

GREECIANEMPIRE

1000 BC

Lake Magadi, Kenya, Trona

Mud Lake Florida

Oil shale

Eocene Green River Formation in Wyoming

Surdam, 2013

oil shaletrona

dolostone

53 to 48 million years ago

Siberian basaltsDeccan basalts

(LIPs from Ernst 2014)

PETM

CAMP

Ethiopia

Columbia

Madagascar

Kerguelen

Parana

Karoo

MackenzieUmkondo

Guibei

Kalkarindji

Kola-Dnieper

Geological Society of America Time Scale

Siberian basaltsDeccan basalts

(LIPs from Ernst 2014)

PETM

CAMP

Ethiopia

Columbia

Madagascar

Kerguelen

Parana

Karoo

MackenzieUmkondo

Guibei

Kalkarindji

Kola-Dnieper

Sudden, massive, rift-related, effusive, basaltic volcanism and associated mass extinctions punctuate the geologic time scale

Geological Society of America Time Scale

USGS© Arctic-Images/Corbis Peter Hartree Gregory et al., 2006

How could greenhouse warming cause such footprints?

USGS© Arctic-Images/Corbis Peter Hartree Gregory et al., 2006

GreenhouseConsensus

GreenhouseConsensus

Since Paris, 2015, most nations are preparing to spend $10,000,000,000,000

to reduce greenhouse gases

What if this has no effecton global warming?

We have to get this right

This could be the greatesteconomic and political crisis ever created by

mistaken science

We Earth scientists need to speak up!

The IPCC has spent 28 years crafting greenhouse consensus

All citizens of the world are depending on us.

“In science consensus is irrelevant.What is relevant is reproducible results.”

“In science consensus is irrelevant.What is relevant is reproducible results.”

In the Exhibit Hall please stop by Booth 564

WhyClimateChanges.com

peward@wyoming.com

I am actively looking for ways to engage people in discussing the footprints of climate change in the geologic record