Deccan traps volcanism implicated in the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs in southeastern China

Mingming Ma; Wenfang Zhang; Mengting Zhao; Yudan Qiu; Hongming Cai; Jiubin Chen; Xiuming Liu

doi:10.1029/2022GL100342

Deccan traps volcanism implicated in the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs in southeastern China

Mingming Ma^*, Wenfang Zhang, Mengting Zhao, Yudan Qiu, Hongming Cai, Jiubin Chen^*, Xiuming Liu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

The extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and its cause(s) have been a matter of debate for several decades. Here we measured Hg and its isotopic composition, heavy metals, and magnetic parameter in a terrestrial basin in southeastern China. Hg exhibited anomalies from 66.4 to 65.6 Ma, with near-zero to positive Δ¹⁹⁹Hg values, which reflected the eruption of Deccan Traps (DT) magma. In addition, Hg anomalies coincided with the gradual extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, thereby consistent with the hypothesis that DT played a key role in the mass extinction. Analysis of paleoclimatic records showed that both the Late Maastrichtian warming event (LMWE) and Dan-C2 event occurred at the maxima of the 405-kyr long eccentricity cycle, and the onset of the dinosaur decline was earlier than the LMWE, suggesting that the LMWE played an ancillary role in the mass extinction. The mechanism of how DT caused the mass extinction requires further investigation.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022GL100342
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	49
Issue number	24
Early online date	15 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100342
Publication status	Published - 28 Dec 2022

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Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary
Deccan Traps
extinction of non-avian dinosaurs
hyperthermals
mercury

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abstract = "The extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and its cause(s) have been a matter of debate for several decades. Here we measured Hg and its isotopic composition, heavy metals, and magnetic parameter in a terrestrial basin in southeastern China. Hg exhibited anomalies from 66.4 to 65.6 Ma, with near-zero to positive Δ199Hg values, which reflected the eruption of Deccan Traps (DT) magma. In addition, Hg anomalies coincided with the gradual extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, thereby consistent with the hypothesis that DT played a key role in the mass extinction. Analysis of paleoclimatic records showed that both the Late Maastrichtian warming event (LMWE) and Dan-C2 event occurred at the maxima of the 405-kyr long eccentricity cycle, and the onset of the dinosaur decline was earlier than the LMWE, suggesting that the LMWE played an ancillary role in the mass extinction. The mechanism of how DT caused the mass extinction requires further investigation.",

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AU - Cai, Hongming

AU - Chen, Jiubin

AU - Liu, Xiuming

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N2 - The extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and its cause(s) have been a matter of debate for several decades. Here we measured Hg and its isotopic composition, heavy metals, and magnetic parameter in a terrestrial basin in southeastern China. Hg exhibited anomalies from 66.4 to 65.6 Ma, with near-zero to positive Δ199Hg values, which reflected the eruption of Deccan Traps (DT) magma. In addition, Hg anomalies coincided with the gradual extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, thereby consistent with the hypothesis that DT played a key role in the mass extinction. Analysis of paleoclimatic records showed that both the Late Maastrichtian warming event (LMWE) and Dan-C2 event occurred at the maxima of the 405-kyr long eccentricity cycle, and the onset of the dinosaur decline was earlier than the LMWE, suggesting that the LMWE played an ancillary role in the mass extinction. The mechanism of how DT caused the mass extinction requires further investigation.

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Deccan traps volcanism implicated in the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs in southeastern China

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