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Emeishan Traps

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The Emeishan Traps constitute a flood basalt volcanic province, or large igneous province, in south-western China, centred in Sichuan province. It is sometimes referred to as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province or Emeishan Flood Basalts. Like other volcanic provinces or "traps," the Emeishan Traps are multiple layers of igneous rock laid down by large mantle plume volcanic eruptions. The Emeishan Traps eruptions were serious enough to have global ecological and paleontological impact.[1]

It is named for Emeishan, a mountain in Sichuan.

The Traps

The eruptions that produced the Emeishan Traps began 265 million years ago (Ma) or earlier.[2][3] The main eruptive period is between 262 Ma and 261 Ma, and the volcanism activities end 259 Ma.[4][5]

In volume, the Emeishan Traps are dwarfed by the massive Siberian Traps, which occurred, in terms of the geological time scale, not long after, at c. 252 Ma. The Emeishan basalts covers an area of more than 2.5 × 105 km2 with thicknesses ranging from several hundred meters up to 5.5 km (the average flood basalt thickness throughout the entire region is estimated to be ~700 m), but the Emeishan traps may have initially covered an area as much as 5 × 105 km2.[6] Thus the entire volume of the Emeishan basalts is estimated to be 0.3 × 106 km3.[7] Evidence suggests that the initial volcanism of the central Emeishan Traps occurred in a deep submarine environment without any significant pre-volcanic uplift.[8]

The Emeishan Traps are associated with the so-called end-Guadalupian extinction or End-Capitanian extinction event, the extinction of animal and plant life that occurred at the end of the Capitanian stage of the Guadalupian epoch of the Permian period.[9] Limestone within the traps show the extinction to occur immediately below the first eruptive unit, with the mass extinction marked at the onset of explosive Emeishan volcanism.[2] The formation of volcaniclastics suggest violent phreatomagmatic-style eruptions.[3] The synchrony between the Emeishan Traps and the end-Guadalupian extinction has been taken to support the argument of Vincent Courtillot and others, that volcanism is the main driver of mass extinctions.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bond, D. P. G.; Wignall, P. B.; Joachimski, M. M.; Sun, Y.; Savov, I.; Grasby, S. E.; Beauchamp, B.; Blomeier, D. P. G. (2015-04-14). "An abrupt extinction in the Middle Permian (Capitanian) of the Boreal Realm (Spitsbergen) and its link to anoxia and acidification". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 127: 1411–1421. Bibcode:2015GSAB..127.1411B. doi:10.1130/B31216.1. ISSN 0016-7606.
  2. ^ a b Wignall, PB; et al. (2009). "Volcanism, Mass Extinction, and Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China". Science. 324: 1179–82. Bibcode:2009Sci...324.1179W. doi:10.1126/science.1171956. PMID 19478179. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ a b Jerram, DA; et al. (2015). "Submarine palaeoenvironments during Emeishan flood basalt volcanism, SW China: Implications for plume–lithosphere interaction during the Capitanian, Middle Permian ('end Guadalupian') extinction event". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.06.009. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  4. ^ Zheng, LD; et al. (2010). "Magnetostratigraphic constraints on two‐stage eruptions of the Emeishan continental flood basalts". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 11. Bibcode:2010GGG....1112014Z. doi:10.1029/2010GC003267. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  5. ^ Zhong, YT; et al. (2014). "CA-TIMS zircon U–Pb dating of felsic ignimbrite from the Binchuan section: Implications for the termination age of Emeishan large igneous province". Lithos. Bibcode:2014Litho.204...14Z. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2014.03.005. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  6. ^ Zhou, MF; et al. (2002). "A temporal link between the Emeishan large igneous province (SW China) and the end-Guadalupian mass extinction". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 196: 113–122. Bibcode:2002E&PSL.196..113Z. doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(01)00608-2. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ^ Ali, JR; et al. (2005). "Emeishan large igneous province, SW China". Lithos. 79: 475–489. Bibcode:2005Litho..79..475A. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2004.09.013. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  8. ^ Zhu, B; et al. (2014). "No pre-eruptive uplift in the Emeishan large igneous province: New evidences from its 'inner zone', Dali area, Southwest China". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Bibcode:2014JVGR..269...57Z. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2013.11.015. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ^ Wignall, PB; et al. (2001). "Large igneous provinces and mass extinctions". Earth-Science Reviews. Bibcode:2001ESRv...53....1W. doi:10.1016/s0012-8252(00)00037-4. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  10. ^ Courtillot, VE; et al. (2003). "On the ages of flood basalt events". Comptes Rendus Geoscience. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)

References

  • Dobretsov, N. L. (2005). "Large Igneous Provinces of Asia (250 Ma): Siberian and Emeishan traps (plateau basalts) and associated granitoids". Geologiya i geofizika. 46: 870–890.
  • He, Bin; Xu, Yi-Gang; Chung, Sun-Ling; Huang, Xiao-Long; Wang, Ya-Mei (2003). "Sedimentary evidence for a rapid kilometer-scale crustal doming prior to the eruption of the Emeishan flood basalts". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 213: 391–405. Bibcode:2003E&PSL.213..391H. doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(03)00323-6.
  • He, Bin; Xu, Yi-Gang; Huang, Xiao-Long; Luo, Zhen-Yu; Shi, Yu-Ruo; Yang, Qi-Jun; Yu, Song-Yue (2007). "Age and duration of the Emeishan flood volcanism, SW China: Geochemistry and SHRIMP zircon Uranium–U-Lead–Pb dating of silicic ignimbrites, post-volcanic Xuanwei Formation and clay tuff at the Chaotian section". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 255: 306–23. Bibcode:2007E&PSL.255..306H. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.12.021.
  • Koeberl, Christian, and Francisca C. Martinez-Ruiz, eds. (2003) Impact Markers in the Stratigraphic Record. New York, Springer-Verlag.
  • Yuen, David A., Shinegoru Maruyama, Shun-Ichiro Karato, and Brian F. Windley, eds. (2007) Superplumes: Beyond Plate Tectonics. New York, Springer-Verlag.
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