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Monday, July 7, 2014

K-T & Permian Extinction Events' Massive Lava Floods

The asteroid that has long been believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs hit the Yucatan peninsula
and formed the Chicxulub crater 65.5 mya. However, by this time, the dinosaurs were mostly long gone (as evidenced by the severe lack of dinosaur fossils around the world in the three meters below the sedimentary layer containing the "iridium" left by the asteroid strike).

About 300,000 years prior to this dramatic event, volcanic emissions and basalt flows on an enormous scale had already occurred on the subcontinent of India and formed the Deccan Traps. It is believed to have been caused by India drifting (15 million years prior to this, India had separated from Pangea and moved northward) over a "hotspot" (mantle plume) and/or a meteor strike hitting slightly off its western shore (Shiva crater) that shocked the Indian continental crust and opened up fissures. This had led to such increased CO2 and sulphur dioxide emissions that 75% or more of all plant and animal species on land and sea died off.

NOTE: About 250 mya, the Great Dying extinction at the end of the Permian Era was caused by excessive volcanic basaltic flows that formed the Siberian Traps (5 miles thick) that also caused phenomenally extensive coal fires. The CO2 of this global warming event raised atmospheric temperatures on land to as much as 140 degrees F. and also acidified the oceans. This volcanic activity is believed to have been triggered by multiple asteroid strikes on Pangea's to be Antarctica (Wilkes Land crater).
[The concentration of seismic waves from a meteorite impact at the antipode (opposite side of a sphere) on the earth would be the cause of many of the massive lava floods of the past when fissures were opened.]

Map:
http://elainemeinelsupkis.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/07/pangea_100_million_years_ago.jpg

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/erthboompix.htm

Articles:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_crater

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/14/62G75/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RĂ©union_hotspot

http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/07-59.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/scientists-have-new-suspect-in-the-great-dying/

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112716258/permian-extinction-hot-101912/

P.S.- Sulphur dioxide is a toxic gas that causes acid rain. Both volcanic emissions and the burning of coal release it into the atmosphere, thus making the Great Dying especially toxic.