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More Linkage Between Cosmic Impacts and Fatal
Volcanism
Mainstream geologists have been reluctant to try
to link the Chicxulub impact with the eruptions at the Deccan traps for two
main reasons:
1. A mantle plume can only (supposedly) rise
through the mantle at a rate of one inch per year. Therefore, it would be
impossible for a mantle plume to arise contemporaneously as a result of a
cosmic impact. It would take 100 million years for the plume to reach the
underside of the Earth's crust.
2. When they found the crater at
Chicxulub and realized that the antipode would have been 5000 km away from the
location of the Deccan traps 66 MYA, they stopped considering any kind of
antipodal focusing theory.
Things are changing. Ever since
Gerta Keller of Princeton produced convincing evidence that the actual
End-Cretaceous extinction occurred well after the Chicxulub impact (at least
50,000 years), but right at the peak of the Deccan trap volcanism, some of the
more adventurous geologists have been taking a second look at the possibility
of cause and effect.
Those readers who have already read this book know
that I have answers for the two reasons listed above … and evidence to
back up these reasons.
1. Extreme shaking can make the mantle much more
permeable.
2. The Deccan traps WERE at the antipode of the Chicxulub
impact.
I will focus on the articles that relate in some
way to the relationship between cosmic impacts and fatal volcanism. I will also
note that many of the articles about mass extinction in 2015 were written about
other mechanisms, such as disease, dark matter, erratic temperature swings,
toxic metals and other combinations of things. So, while there are the
beginnings of a movement toward volcanism as the primary extinction agent, with
a cosmic impact being a triggering mechanism, there are still many other
possibilities that are being promoted.
One particular article by
Paul R. Renne et. al. is so useful as a link to my book that I will provide a
separate chapter (Chapter 4.8) dealing with this article and my response to it.
Other articles focus on some of the under appreciated effects of
volcanism … sulfur particles causing clouds to be more reflective and,
therefore, to cause lower temperatures … global warming due to greenhouse
gasses from LIPs … the cooling effects of massive amounts of sulfur
dioxide … intense and prolonged darkness.
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