structural and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams evidence for oblique impact on terrestrial basalt flows lonar crater india the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams technique combined with the analyses of satellite images and the geological structure are examined on lonar crater a small 1 8 km diameter impact crater in india to evaluate the direction and obliquity of asteroid impact the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer aster image 15 m resolution of the ca 52 ka lonar crater in the subhorizontal deccan basalt ca 65 ma shows that this simple bowl shaped impact crater has a near circular rim with a circularity of 0 95 most of the highly reflecting continuous ejecta blanket around the crater rim can be enveloped with an ellipse whose major e w axis is coincident with the diameter of the crater rim and minor n s axis is relatively displaced toward the west by 200 m the present ejecta distribution which appears to be close to its pristine shape extends to a distance of 700 m in all the directions from the crater rim except to the west where it extends to a distance of a little more than 1 km the circular shape of the crater rim the e w bilateral symmetry of the enveloping ellipse on the ejecta and the greater extension of the ejecta toward the west appear to be the result of an oblique impact from the east with an angle of incidence of 30 45 when compared with experiments the ams data suggest that the target basalts occurring at 2 km west southwest of the crater rim are highly shocked as indicated by the random orientation of their k 3 susceptibility axes in comparison to the unshocked basalts at 2 km east southeast of the crater the unshocked basalts show a bimodal distribution of susceptibility axes typical of lava flows moderate to strong westward shifts of the k 3 axes are seen for the majority of the shocked basalts on the crater rim and west southwest of the crater the shocked basalts also indicate an oblique impact from the east when compared with modeling and experiments a general lowering of degree of anisotropy of the lonar shocked basalts 1 01 compared to the surrounding unshocked basalts 1 03 is found to be a characteristic feature of impact crater target rocks variation in attitudes of the basalt flows on the lonar crater rim shows a bilaterally symmetrical distribution about an e w axial plane which includes quaquaversal dips of the flows all around the crater rim except to the west where overturned dips of the basalt flows are seen it appears that oblique impact and the symmetry in structural variations around the crater rim have a relationship for a small crater such as lonar

geochemical identification of impactor for lonar crater india the only well known terrestrial analogue of impact craters in basaltic crusts of the rocky planets is the lonar crater india for the first time evidence of the impactor that formed the crater has been identified within the impact spherules which are 0 3 to 1 mm in size and of different aerodynamic shapes including spheres teardrops cylinders dumbbells and spindles they were found in ejecta on the rim of the crater the spherules have high magnetic susceptibility from 0 31 to 0 02 si mass and natural remanent magnetization nrm intensity both nrm and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization sirm intensity are 2 am2 kg demagnetization response by the nrm suggests a complicated history of remanence acquisition the spherules show schlieren structure described by chains of tiny dendritic and octahedral shaped magnetite crystals indicating their quenching from liquid droplets microprobe analyses show that relative to the target basalt compositions the spherules have relatively high average fe2o3 by 1 5 wt mgo 1 wt mn 200 ppm cr 200 ppm co 50 ppm ni 1000 ppm and zn 70 ppm and low na2o 1 wt and p2o5 0 2 wt very high ni contents up to 14 times the average content of lonar basalt require the presence of a meteoritic component in these spherules we interpret the high ni cr and co abundances in these spherules to indicate that the impactor of the lonar crater was a chondrite which is present in abundances of 12 to 20 percent by weight in these impact spherules relatively high zn yet low na2o and p2o5 contents of these spherules indicate exchange of volatiles between the quenching spherule droplets and the impact plume

eruptive history of the karoo lava flows and their impact on early jurassic environmental change this paper reports new paleomagnetic and geochronologic data from a 1500 m thick composite section belonging to the drakensberg group the thickest remnant of the karoo lavas in northern lesotho flow by flow analysis of paleomagnetic directions reveals twenty one magnetic directional groups dg corresponding to single eruptive events see and sixteen individual lava flows the new age determinations of lava flows range from 180 1 1 4 to 182 8 2 6 ma these data combined with previous results allow us to propose that the main part of the drakensberg group and the karoo intrusive complex dated around 181 183 ma may have been erupted over a period as short as 250 kyr and may have coincided with the two main phases of extinction in the early toarcian this scenario agrees well with the discontinuous rhythm of environmental and biotic perturbations in the late pliensbachian toarcian interval

use of multiple oxygen isotope proxies for elucidating arctic cretaceous palaeo hydrology stable oxygen isotope analysis of siderite and dinosaur tooth enamel phosphate from the campanian maastrichtian prince creek formation alaska usa are analysed to determine the palaeohydrology of the ancient colville basin north of the ancestral brooks range do of freshwater siderites relative to v pdb ranges between 214 86 and 216 21 dinosaur tooth enamel do from three different sites kikak tegoseak pediomys point liscomb range between 3 9 and 10 2 0 dometeoric water are calculated from dosiderite that formed at seasonal temperatures ranging from 22 to 14 5 8c with a mean annual temperature of 6 3 8c at 6 3 8c the dow calculated from siderite ranged between 222 23 and 220 89 v smow ingested water compositions are estimated from dinosaur teeth assuming body temperatures of 37 8c and local relative humidity of 77 5 resulting in values ranging from 228 7 to 220 4 v smow suggesting consumption of meteoric water and orographically depleted runoff from the brooks range the ranges in calculated dometeoric water are compatible between the two proxies and are mutually corroborating evidence of extremely o depleted precipitation at high latitudes during the late cretaceous relative to those generated using general circulation models this depletion is proposed to result from increased rainout effects from an intensified hydrological cycle which probably played a role in sustaining polar warmth supplementary material parameters used for generation of equations compared to kohn 1996 can be found at http www geolsoc org uk sup18642 stable isotopic proxies are invaluable tools for understanding past and current climates pedogenic carbonates siderite and calcite are commonly used to determine the isotopic composition of meteoric water lohmann 1988 hays grossman 1991 ludvigson et al 1998 ufnar et al 2004a suarez et al 2011 when analysed over a range of latitudes the resulting isotopic gradients can be used to determine global isotopic groundwater gradients this gradient is related to the isotopic composition of the precipitation which is itself related to temperature gradients humidity and in some instances orographic effects isotopic studies of the cretaceous are of particular importance because future climatic conditions kiehl 2011 are predicted to approach those pco2 temperature seen in the various greenhouse worlds of the cretaceous several studies on the cretaceous climate have revealed shallow equatorial topole air and ocean temperature gradients wolfe upchurch 1987 amiot et al 2004 jenkyns et al 2004 puceat et al 2007 while others have indicated equator to pole precipitation do gradients that are steeper than the modern climate system ludvigson et al 1998 ufnar et al 2002 suarez et al 2011 this steep gradient has been explained as resulting from increased rainout thereby increasing latent heat transport from the equator to the poles during greenhouse conditions ufnar et al 2004b these conclusions are based on empirical from bojar a v melinte dobrinescu m c smit j eds isotopic studies in cretaceous research geological society london special publications 382 http dx doi org 10 1144 sp382 3 the geological society of london 2013 publishing disclaimer www geolsoc org uk pub ethics by guest on june 17 2013 http sp lyellcollection org downloaded from

the relationship between rifting and magmatism in the northeastern arabian sea the rifting of the seychelles microcontinent from india involved two phases of extensional activity the initial separation of the laxmi ridge from india was accompanied by extensive magmatism but the later separation of the seychelles from the laxmi ridge was only weakly magmatic the causal mechanisms linking continental flood basalts lithospheric extension and mantle plumes as well as the relative timing of extension and volcanism are controversial1 2 3 4 the eruption of the deccan flood basalts was approximately contemporaneous with the separation of the seychelles microcontinent from india however between these continental blocks lies the enigmatic laxmi ridge and the sequence of extensional events that formed these various tectonic elements is poorly understood here we present wide angle seismic data along a profile across laxmi ridge that permit delineation of offshore igneous bodies associated with the deccan magmatism these bodies are similar to those associated with flood basalt volcanism and rifting in the atlantic region and elsewhere1 from the geometry of these bodies we infer that there were two periods of extension the first phase which involved extension between laxmi ridge and the indian subcontinent was accompanied by significant deccan related magmatism full development of a continental margin was achieved during the second phase of weakly magmatic extension between laxmi ridge and the seychelles we suggest that between these rifting events the region passed beyond the reach of lateral flow from the source region of the deccan flood basalts

multiple impacts across the cretaceous tertiary boundary abstract the stratigraphy and age of altered impact glass microtektites microkrystites ejecta layers from the chicxulub crater are documented in late maastrichtian and early danian sediments in mexico guatemala belize and haiti in northeastern mexico two to four ejecta layers are present in zone cf1 which spans the last 300 ky of the maastrichtian the oldest ejecta layer is dated at 65 27 0 03 ma based on sediment accumulation rates and extrapolated magnetostratigraphy all younger ejecta layers from the maastrichtian and early danian parvularugoglobigerina eugubina zone pla l may represent repeated episodes of reworking of the oldest layer at times of sea level changes and tectonic activity the k t boundary impact event 65 0 ma is not well represented in this area due to widespread erosion an early danian pla l ir anomaly is present in five localities bochil actela coxquihui trinitaria and haiti and is tentatively identified as a third impact event at about 64 9 ma a multiimpact scenario is most consistent with the impact ejecta evidence the first impact is associated with major deccan volcanism and likely contributed to the rapid global warming of 3 4 c in intermediate waters between 65 4 and 65 2 ma decrease in primary productivity and onset of terminal decline in planktic foraminiferal populations the k t boundary impact marks a major drop in primary productivity and the extinction of all tropical and subtropical species the early danian impact may have contributed to the delayed recovery in productivity and evolutionary diversity

age of the barremian aptian boundary and onset of the cretaceous normal superchron abstract the age assigned to the boundary of the barremian and aptian stages remains one of the most poorly constrained post pangean stratigraphic boundaries the lack of a global boundary stratotype section and point gssp for the stage boundary has hampered efforts to calibrate the absolute age of the cretaceous period in the geological time scale the current definition of the barremian aptian boundary also approximates the onset of magnetic polarity chron m0r the end of this chron denotes the start of the cretaceous normal polarity superchron that is of fundamental importance for plate reconstructions currently there is up to 5 discrepancy in the age estimates of the barremian aptian boundary ca 126 121 ma and the start of the cretaceous normal superchron here we review available geochronological information from the late barremian and early aptian stages collected from the pacific ocean china california the ontong java nui large igneous province and the high arctic large igneous province by utilizing only robust geochronological data including u pb and recalibrated 40ar 39ar ages from sites with magnetic polarity information and or paleontological constraints we calculate a best estimate of between 123 8 and 121 8 ma for the barremian aptian boundary and the onset of chron m0r at 2 confidence using estimates of the duration of chron m0r 0 49 0 10 myr 2 we conservatively compute the start of the cretaceous normal superchron to between 123 4 and 121 2 ma 2 using an age of 83 07 0 15 ma 2 for the end of the cretaceous normal superchron the duration of the superchron is also constrained to between 38 0 and 40 5 myr 2 these age ranges for the barremian aptian boundary the onset of the cretaceous normal superchron and the duration of the superchron currently provide the best estimates until a gssp is formally ratified

40ar 39ar dating of mineral separates and whole rocks from the western ghats lava pile further constraints on duration and age of the deccan traps abstract there has been an ongoing debate for almost two decades on the age and duration of deccan trap volcanism some of the best available ages have been determined using the 40 ar 39 ar method but differences in sample location laboratory procedure type of analyzed material and ages of monitors may have been responsible for much of the apparent spread in the data we have collected and analyzed samples from close to the bottom and top of the main lava pile in the western ghats near bombay we confirm previous findings that alteration and ar recoil strongly affect these rocks particularly measurements made on whole rocks when mineral separates mostly plagioclase are analyzed the spread is much reduced we find a mean age of 65 4 0 7 ma for five flows near the base of the section jahwar and igatpuri formations and 65 2 0 4 ma for a dyke cross cutting the poladpur formation below the topmost mahabaleshwar formation this implies that at least 1800 m out of the 2500 m composite trap section were erupted in a short interval less than 1 ma long and close to 65 5 ma i e close to the cretaceous tertiary boundary we find that older ages near 67 ma found by several authors are essentially based on whole rock samples which display disturbed spectra when this can be checked i e when the spectra are published

records of the influence of deccan volcanism on contemporary sedimentary environments in central india deccan volcanism with a duration of 5 myr represents a major continental flood basalt province in which 2 million km3 of lavas were formed such voluminous and rapid volcanism in phanerozoic earth history has commonly been advanced as a cause for mass extinctions despite this significance few studies have attempted to understand the influence of continental flood basalt volcanism on contemporary sedimentary environments thin sedimentary sequences associated with the deccan volcanics i e the infra and inter trappean sequences offer an opportunity to assess the influence of deccan volcanism on contemporary sedimentary environments in central india the lameta formation mainly constitutes a well characterised regolith regionally consisting of calcretes and palustrine facies which may in places be associated with ephemeral sandy braided river and sheetflood facies an assessment of the influence of deccan volcanism on contemporary surficial environments reveals a an input of basaltic degradational products in the basal fluvial facies of the lameta formation b upward changes in facies assemblages from lacustrine palustrine to subaerial dominated followed eventually by burial by the first lavas locally c significant changes in the palaeoflow characteristics of fluvial channel facies respectively under and overlying the main calcareous regolith of the lameta formation d that most freshwater lacustrine taxa survived the initial effects of the deccan volcanism without undergoing any drastic change in addition to the role of constructional topography resulting from lava emplacement and associated surface uplift the mode of preservation of sedimentary packets significantly affects changes in the vertical motifs of coeval sedimentary sequences because of the problems of time resolution on 105 106 year time scales in the continental infra and inter trappean sequences detailed cause volcanism effect surficial environments relationships at the event level are not well understood also the lack of data from multiple stratigraphic levels of the inter trappean beds precludes any serious assessment of the directions and rates of changes that took place in co2 concentrations of the palaeoatmospheres of that period 65 3 myr

an attempt to constrain the age duration and eruptive history of the karoo flood basalt naude s nek section south africa we have carried out paleomagnetic sampling of a similar to 750 m sequence of the karoo large igneous province naude s nek pass south africa k ar dating cassignol gillot has been performed on four samples from the 650 m upper unit mean age 179 2 1 8 ma and a sample from the lower unit 184 8 2 6 ma a succession of two phases of volcanism is suggested the lower 25 flows 115 m thick have recorded a reversed polarity the next 23 flows 135 m thick are transitional and contribute a detailed record of the van zijl 1962 jurassic reversal the upper 38 flows 500 m thick have normal polarity directional groups dgs of lava flows with quasi identical remanence directions indicate eruption durations too short to have recorded geomagnetic secular variation and hence are interpreted as single eruptive events altogether 19 dgs and 10 sheet lobes yield a sequence of 29 distinct directions this could correspond to a total eruptive activity shorter than 3000 years less than one per mil of the total duration over which the section was emplaced we obtain a new paleomagnetic pole for south africa at similar to 180 ma lambda 75 2 degrees n phi 276 4 degrees e a 95 5 8 degrees n 19 which is consistent with earlier reports

eruptive history of the late quaternary ciomadul csomad volcano east carpathians part i timing of lava dome activity located at the southern tip of the intra carpathian volcanic range in romania and composed of a dozen dacitic lava domes the ciomadul csomad volcanic complex is the youngest eruptive centre of the carpatho pannonian region whereas in the last decade the explosive history of ciomadul since 50 ka has been well constrained by numerous studies the chronology of the dome sequence still lacks robust chronological constraints and an extended analysis of all available data here we apply a detailed k ar dating approach to refine the chronology of the lava dome eruptions using the unspiked k ar cassignol gillot technique our dating focused on the most voluminous central part of the lava dome complex new eruption ages were determined following a strict separation of 10 g of groundmass from about 3 kg of unaltered sample rocks thereby isolating material whose cooling was contemporaneous with the eruption the newly applied methodology mainly consisting of a double full preparation first at larger grain size 0 4 mm and then at 100 m provides an appropriate procedure to separate suitable material to obtain the k ar age of the eruption i e the sample s groundmass in which there is no risk of the presence of older inherited crystals our new geochronological data set gives an improved insight into the temporal construction of the ciomadul volcanic complex where due to the method applied here all ages are younger than those from previous studies that used whole rock k ar ages our new results show that ciomadul s volcanic activity began with the construction of the south eastern peripheral domes from ca 850 ka to 440 ka after a ca 250 ky long repose period the activity resumed in the northern part at around 200 ka with subsequent domes emplaced between 200 and 130 ka aligned roughly north south in the western central part of the complex following a 30 ky long quiescence period the eastern central domes formed between 100 and 60 ka in addition to the chronological history of lava dome volcanism we also investigated the sequence of crystallization of mineral phases present in the lavas with respect to the modification of eruption ages ages obtained on pure minerals plagioclase amphibole and biotite are systematically older than those obtained on groundmass showing that most of them formed up to 1 85 myr before eruption in a long lived pre ciomadul magmatic system crystal size distribution csd data support the age contrasts between juvenile groundmass and older inherited minerals after injection of new magma and convective mixing with crystal clots ascent of the resulting mixture led to eruptions of material representing contrasting ages

paleo co2 variation trends and the cretaceous greenhouse climate the cretaceous was one of the most remarkable periods in geological history with a greenhouse climate and several important geological events reconstructions of atmospheric co2 using proxies are crucial for understanding the cretaceous greenhouse in this paper we summarize the major approaches for reconstructing co2 based on paleobotanical or geochemical data and synthesize the co2 variations throughout the cretaceous the results show that atmospheric co2 levels remained relatively high throughout the cretaceous but were lower in the early cretaceous highest in the mid cretaceous and gradually declined during the late cretaceous however this overall trend was interrupted by several rapid changes associated with ocean anoxic events oaes and the end cretaceous catastrophic event new data on paleo co2 levels from paleobotanical and paleosol evidences support not only the overall trends indicated by geochemical models but provide more precise records of the short term fluctuations related to brief episodes of climate change temporal resolution within the long quiet magnetic period in the middle cretaceous is one of the obstacles preventing us from a more comprehensive understanding of the co2 climate linkage but new paleo co2 determinations and climatic data from stratigraphic sections of sediments intercalated with datable volcanic rocks will allow a better understanding of the relationships between fluctuations of atmospheric co2 climate change and geological events

cosmic markers 40ar 39ar dating and paleomagnetism of the kt sections in the anjar area of the deccan large igneous province abstract bhandari et al bhandari et al geophys res lett 22 1995 433 436 bhandari et al geol soc am spec paper 307 1996 417 424 reported the discovery of iridium bearing sediments sandwiched between basalt flows in the anjar area kutch province india they concluded that the signature of the k t impact had been recorded and that onset of volcanism in the deccan traps preceded the k t boundary excluding the possibility of a causal connection this paper reports complementary analyses of anjar outcrops by a joint indo french team where we focused on cosmic markers iridium and spinels in the intertrappean sediments and 40ar 39ar dating and paleomagnetism of the lava flows anomalous ir concentrations up to 0 4 ng g are confirmed with up to three thin and patchy enriched layers which cannot be traced throughout the exposed sections despite careful search no ni rich spinels were found eight basalt samples provided 40ar 39ar results four on plagioclase bulk samples four on whole rocks spectra for whole rocks all indicate some amount of disturbance and ages based on plagioclase bulk samples seem to be consistently more reliable hofmann et al earth planet sci lett 180 2000 13 28 the three flows underlying the ir bearing sediments are dated at 66 5 ma and two overlying flows at 65 ma magnetic analyses both thermal and by alternating fields uncovered clear reversed primary components in the upper flows and more disturbed normal components in the lower flows with evidence for an additional reversed component there are reports bajpai geol soc india mem 37 1996 313 319 bajpai j geol soc london 157 2000 257 260 that the intertrappean sediments contain uppermost maastrichtian dinosaur and ostracod remains above the uppermost ir bearing level and may not be mechanically disturbed we propose the following scenario to interpret these multiple field and analytical observations deccan trap volcanism started within uppermost maastrichtian normal chron c30n at 66 5 67 ma in the anjar area volcanism then stopped at least locally and lacustrine sediments were deposited over a period that could be in the order of 1 2 ma the k t bolide impact was recorded as a deposit of ir and possibly though not necessarily spinels volcanism resumed shortly after the k t boundary within reversed chron c29r as witnessed by the three reversely magnetised overlying basalt flows dated 65 ma this was responsible for erosion and destruction of part of the uppermost sediments including spinels if there were any and heterogeneous and non uniform redeposition of ir at a number of underlying sedimentary levels this was also responsible for the partial remagnetisation of the underlying flows these findings generally confirm and complement those of bhandari et al bhandari et al geophys res lett 22 1995 433 436 bhandari et al geol soc am spec paper 307 1996 417 424 and are compatible with the occurrence of the k t impact at the paleontological k t boundary and of deccan trap volcanism straddling the boundary and starting before the impact anjar provides evidence for minor volcanism somewhat earlier than suggested by some authors though still within normal chron c30n there is no indication contradicting the view that the bulk of deccan trap volcanism occurred over only three chrons c30n c29r c29n courtillot evolutionary catastrophes the science of mass extinctions cambridge university press 1999 courtillot et al earth planet sci lett 80 1986 361 374 vandamme et al rev geophys 29 1991 159 190

nature of sub volcanic magma chambers deccan province india evidence from quantitative textural analysis of plagioclase megacrysts in the giant plagioclase basalts sub volcanic magma chambers might be a widespread component of flood basalt provinces and their presence can be revealed in some cases by plagioclase megacrystic basalts in at least four levels within the deccan flood basalt sequence the generally low abundance of small plagioclase crystals increases to 5 25 with some as large as 30 mm long these giant plagioclase basalt gpb flows were formed by mixing of megacryst rich and megacryst poor magmas the crystal size distributions csd of these megacrysts mostly plot as almost straight lines on a classic csd diagram for a plagioclase growth rate of 10 10 mm s steady state magma chamber models and simple continuous growth suggest residence times of 500 1500 years however the lack of crystals smaller than 2 mm suggests that coarsening may have been involved and crystal shape can help define the environment where this happened plagioclase megacrysts are very tabular and commonly form clusters of sub parallel crystals characteristics that are also found in the plagioclase of anorthosites formed by flotation at the top of shallow magma chambers and crystallization in a high peclet number regime e g skaergaard sept iles a possible history is as follows 1 plagioclase megacrysts crystallize in a convecting magma chamber just below the lava pile 2 currents sweep the crystals to the top of the chamber where they accumulate as a result of their buoyancy the crystals coarsen in response to the continuous supply of hot magma 3 new magma sweeps through the plagioclase mush mingles and mixes then erupts to form the gpbs the residence time recorded by the megacrysts in the gpbs is that of the magma chamber where the megacrysts formed not that of the magmas that make up the megacryst poor part of the gpbs or the other megacryst poor lavas lavas with megacrysts similar to the gpbs are uncommon but widespread galapagos surtsey etc and suggest the presence of sub volcanic magma chambers elsewhere

age and paleoenvironment of the maastrichtian to paleocene of the mahajanga basin madagascar a multidisciplinary approach abstract lithology geochemistry stable isotopes and integrated high resolution biostratigraphy of the berivotra and amboanio sections provide new insights into the age faunal turnovers climate sea level and environmental changes of the maastrichtian to early paleocene of the mahajanga basin of madagascar in the berivotra type area the dinosaur rich fluvial lowland sediments of the anembalemba member prevailed into the earliest maastrichtian these are overlain by marginal marine and near shore clastics that deepen upwards to hemipelagic middle neritic marls by 69 6 ma accompanied by arid to seasonally cool temperate climates through the early and late maastrichtian an unconformity between the berivotra formation and betsiboka limestone marks the k t boundary and juxtaposes early danian zone plc or pld and latest maastrichtian zones cf2 cf1 micula prinsii sediments seasonally humid warm climates began near the end of the maastrichtian and prevailed into the early danian accompanied by increased volcanic activity during the late danian zones p1d p2 a change to seasonally arid climates was accompanied by deepening from middle to outer neritic depths

near n s paleo extension in the western deccan region india does it link strike slip tectonics with india seychelles rifting this is the first detailed report and analyses of deformation from the w part of the deccan large igneous province dlip maharashtra india this deformation related to the india seychelles rifting during late cretaceous early paleocene was studied and the paleostress tensors were deduced near n s trending shear zones lineaments and faults were already reported without significant detail an e w extension was envisaged by the previous workers to explain the india seychelles rift at 64 ma the direction of extension however does not match with their n s brittle shear zones and also those faults sub vertical ne sw nw se and few n s we report and emphasize in this work slickenside bearing fault planes brittle shear zones and extension fractures in meso scale enabled us to estimate the paleostress tensors directions and relative magnitudes the field study was complemented by remote sensing lineament analyses to map dykes and shear zones dykes emplaced along pre existing n s to ne sw nw se shears fractures this information was used to derive regional paleostress trends a nw se ne sw minimum compressive stress in the oldest kalsubai subgroup and a n s direction for the younger lonavala wai and salsette subgroups were deciphered thus a nw ne to n s extension is put forward that refutes the popular view of e w india seychelles extension paleostress analyses indicate that this is an oblique rifted margin field criteria suggest only ne sw and nw se with some n s strike slip faults brittle shear zones we refer this deformation zone as the western deccan strike slip zone wdsz the observed deformation was matched with offshore tectonics deciphered mainly from faults interpreted on seismic profiles and from magnetic seafloor spreading anomalies these geophysical findings too indicate oblique rifting in this part of the w indian passive margin we argue that the seychelles microcontinent separated from india only after much of the dlip erupted further studies of magma rich passive margins with respect to timing and architecture of deformation and emplacement of volcanics are required

does deccan volcanic sequence contain more reversals than the three chron n r n flow magnetostratigraphy a palaeomagnetic evidence from the dyke swarm near mumbai

magnetostratigraphy and 40ar 39ar geochronology of the malwa plateau region northern deccan traps central western india significance and correlation with the main deccan large igneous province sequences abstract basaltic lava flows of malwa plateau together with the mandla area and the toranmal section constitute the northern deccan province in central western india with the present outcrop area of 80 000 km2 the malwa flows form an extensive but relatively thin sequence we sampled deccan basalts along two 100 km each n s and e w transects along the western and southern rims of the malwa plateau the 67 12 0 44 ma 40ar 39ar age obtained in the present study clearly shows that the eruption of the malwa flows started during the magnetochron c30n by mapping the magnetic c30n c29r transition on the western and southern edge of the plateau the total volume and eruption rate can be calculated 42 000 km3 0 03 km3 a furthermore the results point towards the narmada tapi rift zone as the possible source area for the malwa lava flows the malwa sequence is older and partly synchronous with the thick sequences of the western ghats since their eruption centers are spatially independent they should not be correlated with younger although geochemically similar formations of the western ghats other northern deccan flows show clear similarities with the malwa flows and can be magnetostratigraphically and geochemically correlated we therefore suggest a new subgroup for the northern deccan province the narmada subgroup defined on the geochemical and magnetic characteristics of the malwa mandla and toranmal flows the introduction of this new subgroup clarifies the position of the northern deccan province in the deccan stratigraphy and is a step towards a better understanding of the deccan eruption history

the petrogenesis of massif anorthosites a nd and sr isotopic investigation of the proterozoic of rogaland vest agder sw norway sm nd and rb sr isotopic analyses of charnockitic migmatite augen gneiss anorthosite leuconorite and two acid plutons from the rogaland and vest agder districts of southwest norway constrain their crustal residence ages origin and evolution the charnockitic migmatites which are a major component of the metamorphic basement complex represent the oldest and largest episode of accretion in which new crust was derived 1 5 1 9 ga ago from a mantle source of depleted nd isotopic composition the basement complex was intruded by a number of large anorthositic to granitic plutons during and after the sveconorwegian orogenic period samples from the ca 1050 ma old synorogenic haland anorthosite leuconorite massif exhibit substantial variation of initial nd of 2 1 to 4 4 at an anorthosite locality and 0 5 to 2 3 at a leuconorite locality but display significant variation of initial 87sr 86sr ratio only between the localities anorthosite mean 0 70369 leuconorite mean 0 70560 a model is proposed whereby the anorthosite and leuconorite were derived by major crustal contamination of and fractional crystallization from a picritic magma derived from isotopically depleted mantle two younger acid intrusions the 950 ma old lyngdal granodiorite and the 930 ma old farsund charnockite both have initial sr and nd isotope ratios consistent with massive contamination of depleted mantle derived magma by old continental crustal material

evidence of multi phase cretaceous to quaternary alkaline magmatism on tore madeira rise and neighbouring seamounts from 40ar 39ar ages abstract the tore madeira rise is a seamount chain located 300 km off the portugal and morocco coasts attributed to hotspot activity u pb ages of lavas from the northern and central tore madeira rise range between 103 and 80 5 ma whereas 40 ar 39 ar ages from the central and southern tore madeira rise yield ages ranging from 94 5 to 0 5 ma we performed new 40 ar 39 ar measurements to better understand the geodynamic history of the tore madeira rise plagioclase ages from the bikini bottom and torillon seamounts suggest ages of 90 ma and 60 ma respectively amphiboles from the seine seamount yield an age of 24 0 0 8 ma biotites from lavas of the ashton seamount give ages of 97 4 1 1 ma and 97 8 1 1 ma the geochronological database available on the tore madeira rise has been filtered on statistical criteria to eliminate unreliable ages the resulting database reveals three pulses of alkaline magmatism on the tore madeira rise at 103 80 5 ma at c 68 ma and between 30 ma and the present the magmatism was continuous from 103 ma until c 68 ma and from c 30 ma until the present on the tore madeira rise the surrounding seamounts and the portugal coast we suggest that the space time distribution of this magmatism results from the interaction between a wide thermal anomaly emitting magmatic pulses and the complex motion of the iberian plate supplementary material a detailed ar measurements dataset is available at http www geolsoc org uk sup18359

the k pg boundary at brazos river texas usa an approach by marine palynology two cores and one outcrop section from the cretaceous palaeogen k pg boundary interval at the brazos river area texas usa have been high resolution sampled and analysed fully quantitatively by marine palynology the results have been compared and integrated with data from micropalaeontology sedimentology and isotope geochemistry from the same sections within all three sections the k pg boundary defined as the base of the p0 foraminifera zone and the onset of a negative carbon isotope anomaly closely corresponds to the appearance of lowermost danian organic walled dinocysts based on various palynological proxies as well as on sedimentologic features a sequence stratigraphic subdivision of the sections is proposed from a synopsis of all three sections a long term punctuated drop of relative sea level is indicated starting at about the top of the upper cretaceous cf2 foraminifera zone and reaching a minimum within the upper p1a zone of the lower palaeogene this is followed by a prominent transgression starting within the p1a p1b boundary interval the event deposit ed a siliciclastic unit located well below the base of the p0 foraminifera zone in the present sections most probably represents a combination of both episodic relative sea level fall and lag deposit due to initial transgression it is preceded by significant fluctuations of climatic boundary conditions with cool climates correlating to heavier 13c values and increased p g ratio of dinocysts suggestive of higher marine primary productivity across the k pg boundary a prominent increase and spike of the warm temperate waters dinocysts fraction is documented represented mainly by trithyrodinium evittii which is accompanied by climatic warming and an episodic relative sea level rise thus prominent paleo environmental changes and sea level fluctuations precede and coincide with the k pg boundary proper these data are inconsistent with a single catastrophic impact as the cause for the k pg boundary event but suggest relative longer term environmental stress as finally leading to end cretaceous crisis of the biosphere between the ed and the k pg boundary proper the gradual increase to peak abundance in trilete spores demonstrates a significant time lag between these two horizons according to the distinct distribution of this peak abundance it cannot be excluded that an impact tsunami event is related to the lower portion of the ed in contrast no significant changes within most palynologic proxies are documented across the yellow clay layer below the ed documented within one of the sections and recently suggested as the original chicxulub impact ejecta horizon this questions the impact origin of this horizon or at least suggests only little consequences of this event on the ecosystem

geodynamic implications of moving indian ocean hotspots abstract the reconstructed positions of many of the indian ocean intraplate volcanic features are inconsistent with the present positions of the hotspots to which they have been ascribed the discrepancy can be explained by the past motion of the hotspots themselves and in the errors introduced in an absolute plate model based on fixed hotspots previous models for the motion of hotspots in the indian ocean e g steinberger and o connell in the history and dynamics of global plate motions 2000 pp 377 398 and geophys j int 132 1998 412 434 antretter et al earth planet sci lett 203 2002 635 650 have had success in matching paleolatitudes of the kerguelen hotspot but not the marion or reunion hotspots we calculate the motion of the indian ocean hotspots using a method described in steinberger and o connell op cit employing a plate motion model revised using identification of mesozoic magnetic anomalies in the enderby basin gaina et al in the evolution and dynamics of the australian plate in press we find a motion of 7 south for the kerguelen plume similar to previous models antretter et al op cit this motion alleviates the discrepancies in the position of the kerguelen plume and its purported involvement in the formation of the ninetyeast ridge rajmahal traps bunbury basalts and assorted volcanics of the western australian margin we find a motion of 5 north and 7 south for the reunion and marion plumes respectively the motion of the reunion hotspot is consistent with paleolatitude estimates the apparent fixity of the marion hotspot torsvik et al earth planet sci lett 164 1998 221 232 is not well constrained but may be due to the combination of hotspot motion and true polar wander acting in opposing directions we present revised absolute finite rotations for the indian plate for the last 65 ma based on the motion of these hotspots which place india farther north in the past than for fixed hotspot models

main deccan volcanism phase ends near the k t boundary evidence from the krishna godavari basin se india abstract recent studies indicate that the bulk 80 of the deccan trap eruptions occurred over less than 0 8 m y in magnetic polarity c29r spanning the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary determining where within this major eruptive phase the k t mass extinction occurred has remained problematic for this reason models estimating the biotic and environmental consequences have generally underestimated the rate and quantity of deccan gas emissions by orders of magnitude leading to conclusions that volcanism could not have been one of the major causes for the k t mass extinction in this study we report that the most massive deccan trap eruption occurred near the k t mass extinction these results are based on sedimentologic microfacies and biostratigraphic data of 4 9 m thick intertrappean sediments in four quarry outcrops in the rajahmundry area of the krishna godavari basin of southeastern india in this area two deccan basalt flows known as the rajahmundry traps mark the longest lava flows extending 1500 km across the indian continent and into the bay of bengal the sediments directly overlying the lower rajahmundry trap contain early danian planktic foraminiferal assemblages of zone p1a which mark the evolution in the aftermath of the k t mass extinction the upper rajahmundry trap was deposited in magnetic polarity c29n preceding full biotic recovery these results suggest that volcanism may have played critical roles in both the k t mass extinction and the delayed biotic recovery

a short duration of the cretaceous tertiary boundary event evidence from extraterrestrial helium 3 analyses of marine carbonates through the interval 63 9 to 65 4 million years ago indicate a near constant flux of extraterrestrial helium 3 a tracer of the accretion rate of interplanetary dust to earth this observation indicates that the bolide associated with the cretaceous tertiary k t extinction event was not accompanied by enhanced solar system dustiness and so could not have been a member of a comet shower the use of helium 3 as a constant flux proxy of sedimentation rate implies deposition of the k t boundary clay in 10 2 10 3 years precluding the possibility of a long hiatus at the boundary and requiring extremely rapid faunal turnover

regional uplift associated with continental large igneous provinces the roles of mantle plumes and the lithosphere the timing and duration of surface uplift associated with large igneous provinces provide important constraints on mantle convection processes here we review geological indicators of surface uplift associated with five continent based magmatic provinces emeishan traps 260 million years ago ma siberian traps 251 ma deccan traps 65 ma north atlantic phase 1 61 ma and phase 2 55 ma and yellowstone 16 ma to recent all five magmatic provinces were associated with surface uplift surface uplift can be measured directly from sedimentary indicators of sea level in the north atlantic and from geomorpholocial indicators of relative uplift and tilting in yellowstone in the other provinces surface uplift is inferred from the record of erosion in the deccan north atlantic and emeishan provinces transient uplift that results from variations in thermal structure of the lithosphere and underlying mantle can be distinguished from permanent uplift that results from the extraction and emplacement of magma transient surface uplift is more useful in constraining mantle convection since models of melt generation and emplacement are not required for its interpretation observations of the spatial and temporal relationships between surface uplift rifting and magmatism are also important in constraining models of lip formation onset of surface uplift preceded magmatism in all five of the provinces biostratigraphic constraints on timing of uplift and erosion are best for the north atlantic and emeishan provinces where the time interval between significant uplift and first magmatism is less than 1 million years and 2 5 million years respectively rifting post dates the earliest magmatism in the case of the north atlantic phase 1 and possibly in the case of siberia the relative age of onset of offshore rifting is not well constrained for the deccan and the importance of rifting in controlling magmatism is disputed in the emeishan and yellowstone provinces in these examples rifting is not a requirement for onset of lip magmatism but melting rates are significantly increased when rifting occurs models that attempt to explain emplacement of these five lips without hot mantle supplied by mantle plumes often have difficulties in explaining the observations of surface uplift rifting and magmatism for example small scale convection related to craton or rift boundaries edge driven convection cannot easily explain widespread 1000 km scale transient surface uplift emeishan deccan north atlantic and upper mantle convection initiated by differential incubation beneath cratons the hotcell

latest cretaceous himalayan tectonics obduction collision or deccan related uplift abstract diverging interpretations and incompatible scenarios have been proposed for the early stages of himalayan history numerous researchers have postulated that northern india was involved in ophiolite obduction arc continent or continent continent collision during the late cretaceous or early paleocene but firm geological evidence was never produced in this article we argue against orogenic events predating the late paleocene when the neotethys ocean was still open the tethys himalayan sedimentary record testifies to anorogenic evolution primarily controlled by dynamic uplift of the passive margin prior to the massive outburst of deccan lavas and eventually followed by thermal subsidence major stratigraphic gaps in pelagic sediments suggest that such tectono magmatic episode started to affect the base of the indian plate in the campanian or possibly even in the santonian 10 to 20 ma before the climax of deccan flood basalt eruptions the abrupt increase in siliciclastic supply and accumulation rates recorded in sedimentary basins all around the indian subcontinent during the maastrichtian was followed by progradation of coastal quartzarenites along the northern indian margin in the early paleocene sandstones derived from the rejuvenated craton and uplifted inner continental margin in the south are dominantly but not exclusively quartzose felsitic volcanic rock fragments and cr spinels many of which with the same geochemical fingerprint as deccan spinels and newly found throughout the maastrichtian to danian succession resisted the combined effect of subequatorial weathering and subsequent diagenesis and testify that detritus from deccan basalts reached the indian passive margin as far as south tibet at the close of the early paleocene india drifted away from the seychelles block and thermal subsidence led to widespread carbonate deposition along the tethys himalaya this article illustrates how mega events of magmatic upwelling followed by lithospheric cooling may control passive margin sedimentation and stratigraphic patterns as occurred in northern india first in the early cretaceous and next in the latest cretaceous paleocene

phanerozoic surface history of southern peninsular india from apatite u th sm he data quantifying bedrock cooling history is crucial for understanding the long term landform evolution across passive margins and its control onto the sediment routing system to constrain the low temperature cooling history and its relationships to the phanerozoic tectonic events of southern peninsular india we present new apatite u th sm he ahe analyses of 39 precambrian basement samples the new ahe ages range from 38 1 6 8 to 364 2 44 6 ma they are younger than 50 ma in the palghat gap region and older than 200 ma in the interior of the deccan plateau thermal modeling based on ahe data indicates enhanced cooling and exhumation in the interior of the deccan plateau by permian triassic times followed by gradual cooling up to the present this discrete episode of permian triassic cooling is associated with continental extension that preceded the early jurassic breakup of gondwana bedrock cooling and exhumation on the southeastern and southern limits of the deccan plateau was likely accomplished by late cretaceous drainage reorganization the distribution of old 200 ma ahe ages over the 2600 m high nilgiri plateau reflects very low erosion exhumation rates and adds to examples of long lived postorogenic topography the relatively younger ahe ages from the 30 km wide low mountain pass palghat gap within the western ghat mountains attest for intense cenozoic erosion likely facilitated by the erodible lithological backbone of the neoproterozoic shear zone ahe ages across the western coastal plain challenge the widely hold notion of 3 km of post breakup isostatic rebound in response to erosion of the margin instead the new ahe data are more compatible with less than 1 1 5 km of crustal denudation along the coastal strip

40k 40ar dating of the main deccan large igneous province further evidence of ktb age and short duration most mass extinctions coincide in time with outpourings of continental flood basalts cfb some 20 years ago it was shown courtillot v besse j vandamme d montigny r jaeger j j cappetta h 1986 deccan flood basalts at the cretaceous tertiary boundary earth planet sci lett 80 361 374 courtillot v feraud g maluski h vandamme d moreau m g besse j 1988 deccan flood basalts and the cretaceous tertiary boundary nature 333 843 846 duncan r a pyle d g 1988 rapid eruption of the deccan flood basalts at the cretaceous tertiary boundary nature 333 841 843 that the age of the deccan traps was close to the cretaceous tertiary kt boundary and its duration under 1 myr we have undertaken a new geochronological study using the unconventional 40k 40ar cassignol gillot technique which is particularly well suited to the potassium poor deccan lavas the mean of 4 determinations from the topmost ambenali and mahabaleshwar formations is 64 5 0 6 ma they straddle the c29r c29n reversal boundary for which they provide a new constraint the mean age of 3 determinations from the oldest jawhar formation is 64 8 0 6 ma the difference in age between top and bottom of a 3500 m composite section probably comprising 80 of the total deccan volume is statistically insignificant with the overall mean age being 64 7 0 6 ma n 7 our results are consistent with the most recent 40ar 39ar determinations knight k b renne p r halkett a white n 2003 40ar 39ar dating of the rajahmundry traps eastern india and their relationship to the deccan traps earth planet sci lett 208 85 99 knight k b renne p r baker j waight t white n 2005 reply to 40ar 39ar dating of the rajahmundry traps eastern india and their relationship to the deccan traps discussion by a k baksi earth planet sci lett 239 374 382 confirming that there should be no systematic difference between the two methods when they are used in an optimal way an earlier smaller but significant pulse of volcanism between 68 and 67 ma extending over at least 500 km in latitude in the northern part of the deccan cfb has also been identified after 2 to 3 ma of quiescence the second major phase of volcanism occurred near 65 ma expanding over most of the area covered by the first pulse and another 500 km to the south consistent with drift of india by 300 to 450 km at not vert similar 150 mm yr during the quiescence period new paleontological data from the remote rajahmundry section keller g adatte t gardin s bartolini a bajpai s humler e in prep the cretaceous tertiary boundary in deccan traps of the krishna godavari basin of southeastern india epsl to be submitted suggest that this second pulse can itself be divided into two major pulses one starting in c29r and ending at the kt boundary the second starting in the upper part of c29r and ending within c29n

bimodal tholeiitic and mildly alkalic basalts from bhir area central deccan volcanic province india geochemistry and petrogenesis abstract bimodal tholeiitic and mildly alkalic basalts occur near bhir in the central part of deccan volcanic province dvp major and trace element concentrations show that of the ten flows nine are tholeiitic and one is an alkalic basalt the bhir basalts have a wide range of chemical composition geochemical variations in the stratigraphic section define three distinct phases of evolution zones 1 to 3 crystal fractionation of plagioclase clinopyroxene olivine and fe ti oxide expanded the compositional range low mg s 39 55 low concentrations of ni and cr and high zr suggest the evolved nature of the bhir basalts fractionation modeling suggests about 42 fractional crystallization in spite of the dominant role of fractional crystallization in the evolution of bhir basalts some other processes must be sought to explain the chemical variations crustal contamination magma mixing and degree of partial melting are suggested to explain the observed chemical variations resorption reverse zoning and compositional bimodality in plagioclase phenocrysts indicate magma mixing samples of flows one and four suspected of being contaminated all have enriched sio2 and lile k rb and ba contents and depletion in ti and p believed to be due to granitic crustal contamination as compared to tholeiitic basalts the alkalic basalts are characterized by low sio2 and high tio2 na2o k2o and p2o5 alkalic basalts are richer in lile rb and ba hfse nb zr and y and ree than the tholeiitic basalts the alkalic basalt occurrence is important from a petrogenetic point of view and also suggests that the sources of alkalic basalt magmas may be of variable ages under different parts of the dvp based on major trace and rare earth element distributions it is suggested that asthenospheric mantle having affinities with the source of oib was the source material of the magmas and the range in the composition of tholeiitic and alkalic basalts was probably controlled by different degrees of melting and or inhomogeneities in the mantle source

the geochronology of large igneous provinces terrestrial impact craters and their relationship to mass extinctions on earth the relationship between sudden catastrophic events and sudden mass extinctions on earth has attracted a great deal of research effort including measurements of the absolute and relative ages of these events the result has been a rapid improvement in the precision and accuracy of radiometric dates for large igneous provinces lips for which there is now a consensus on the peak eruption times over the last 250 ma in parallel there has been a more gradual improvement in the radiometric dates for craters formed by hypervelocity impacts hvis of asteroids and comets with earth the absolute ages of the largest craters are known to within a few million years but the ages of many smaller craters are poorly constrained in addition whereas relatively few lips have formed in the last 250 ma at least one hvi crater larger than 20 km diameter has formed on earth every million years only 25 such craters have been discovered so coincidence between the ages of hvi crater formation and ages of mass extinctions is related as much to crater preservation as to coincidence of the events the difference in quality of geochronology between hvis and lips is the result of differing availability of samples lips cover large areas and present an array of basalt samples suitable for dating whereas hvi craters are often poorly preserved and present few datable samples the radiometric data for preserved hvis and lips are now sufficiently precise and accurate for us to be confident that there is no one to one correlation between either lips or hvis and global mass extinctions of life on earth however there is a close association between a significant number of lips and sudden environmental change and a very close association between at least one massive hvi crater formation and a mass extinction further there is no apparent correlation between hvis and lips and thus no reason to suggest a causative relationship finally the radiometric dating of hvi craters indicates several clusters in the geological record but the correlation with sudden environmental change is no better than for large craters

mafic volcaniclastic deposits in flood basalt provinces a review flood volcanic provinces are assumed generally to consist exclusively of thick lavas and shallow intrusive rocks mostly sills with any pyroclastic rocks limited to silicic compositions however mafic volcaniclastic deposits mvds exist in many provinces and the eruptions that formed such deposits are potentially meaningful in terms of potential atmospheric impacts and links with mass extinctions the province where mvds are the most voluminous the siberian traps is also the one temporally associated with the greatest phanerozoic mass extinction a lot remains to be learned about these deposits and eruptions before a convincing genetic link can be established but as a first step this contribution reviews in some detail the current knowledge on mvds for the provinces in which they are better known i e the north atlantic igneous province including greenland the faeroe islands the british isles and tephra layers in the north sea basin and vicinity the ontong java plateau the ferrar and the karoo we also provide a brief overview of what is known about mvds in other provinces such as the columbia river basalts the afro arabian province the deccan traps the siberian traps the emeishan and an archean example from australia the thickest accumulations of mvds occur in flood basalt provinces where they underlie the lava pile faeroes n1 km ferrar province z400 m siberian traps 700 m in the faeroes case the great thickness of mvds can be attributed to accumulation in a local sedimentary basin but in the ferrar and siberian provinces the deposits are widespread n310 5 km 2 for the latter on the ontong java plateau over 300 m of mvds occur in one drill hole without any overlying lavas where the volcaniclastic deposits are sandwiched between lavas their thickness is much less in most of the cases reviewed primary mvds are predominantly of phreatomagmatic origin as indicated by the clast assemblage generally consisting of basaltic clasts of variable vesicularity dominantly non to poorly vesicular mixed with abundant country rock debris the accidental lithic components often include loose quartz particles derived from poorly consolidated sandstones in underlying sedimentary basins east greenland ferrar karoo these underlying sediments or sedimentary rocks were not only a source for debris but also aquifers that supplied water to fuel phreatomagmatic activity in the

morphogroups and small sized tests in pseudotextularia elegans rzehak from the late maastrichtian succession of meghalaya india as indicators of biotic response to paleoenvironmental stress abstract cretaceous paleocene shelf successions of therriaghat and mahadeo in meghalaya india preserve almost the whole of the late maastrichtian stage in which the warm water tethyan planktonic foraminifera pseudotextularia elegans rzehak occurs in the racemiguembelina fructicosa zone zone cf4 and pseudoguembelina palpebra zone zone cf2 as five distinct morphogroups a e morphogroups a c commonly occur in rocks representing the transgressive regime of the r fructicosa zone at therriaghat whereas that of p palpebra zone was conducive for morphogroup d in the deeper shelf around therriaghat and morphogroup e in the near shore shelf around mahadeo the absence of p elegans in the pseudoguembelina hariaensis zone zone cf3 is postulated due to tectonic cause whereas its absence in the plummerita hantkeninoides zone zone cf1 was due to regression analysis of growth parameters including length width thickness and angle of flaring of the tests of the species reveal that morphogroups b and c are generally larger in size than the other morphogroups and the test length of the meghalaya specimens is smallest over its world occurrences diverse morphogroups and small tests are unique in the species of meghalaya however the cause of such unusual growth is difficult to explain due to development close to the tectonically active deccan volcanic province and the assam arakan and himalayan mobile belts the meghalaya shelf had unusual biotic stress due to volcanic eruption sea level fluctuations induced by plate collision and climate warming and retreat of the neo tethys during the biozones cf4 and cf2 when vigorous deccan outbursts occurred p elegans developed diverse morphogroups and acquired small size tests to cope with the changed environments and possibly to increase its chances of avoiding by microspherule missiles

lithospheric electrical imaging of the deccan trap covered region of western india 1 we present here the results of magnetotelluric mt studies carried out along a 330 km long ne sw trending traverse from daulatabad at the northeastern end to koyna on the southwestern end across the deccan volcanic province dvp in western india the 2 d mt modeling results obtained along this traverse together with those from other mt traverses in this area are examined and integrated with the results from deep seismic sounding 3 d teleseismic tomography and heat flow studies the deep geoelectric section as deduced from mt models point out to a two layered lithospheric mantle structures with an upper very high resistive layer several thousands of ohm m and a bottom relatively conductive one a few tens of ohm m to a few hundred ohm m the lithospheric electrical structure is inferred to be linked to compositional changes associated with a depleted lithospheric upper mantle in the dharwar craton an impressive feature that the study has brought out is the presence of a well defined lithospheric upper mantle conductor in the depth range of 80 120 km limited to the middle segment of the mt traverse from sangole to partur over the dvp the electrical characterization of the region including the presence of upper mantle conductor shows close similarities with that of other similar cratonic regions like the slave and superior cratons in northwestern canada

inter basaltic clay bole bed horizons from deccan traps of india implications for palaeo weathering and palaeo climate during deccan volcanism abstract reddened clay rich horizons between basalt flows have historically been identified as baked zones or as zones of lateral groundwater movement the reddening was interpreted as a form of alteration due to thermal or chemical processes many of these zones are referred to as bole beds in deccan traps and occur as prominent horizons showing red to brown green purple or grey colors and are composed of fine grained clayey material the red and green colors are caused by the presence of variable amounts of fe 2 o 3 and mgo in the bole samples the geochemistry of bole beds suggests that they were derived from basalts due to weathering processes these boles record significant hiatuses in basalt flow emplacement and in some cases resemble incipient palaeosol deposits samples have been collected in profiles from the overlying basalt flow through the bole down to the underlying flow geochemical analyses suggest loss of ca na mg fe 2 fe and p in the boles compared to neighboring basalts consistent with the weathering patterns observed in present day volcanic islands the observed high concentration of k and rb in the green bole samples compared to the adjoining basalts have been argued as features suggesting eolian transportation of volcanic ashes and deposition rather than evidence of metasomatism the mean d and 18 o values of clays from red and green bole outcrops were 83 05 and 15 8 respectively clays analyzed from green boles were marginally more depleted probably indicating a process of high temperature fractionation during deposition transformation of ash into green bole our estimate of the average meteoric water 18 op 8 1 value calculated from measured isotopic data with the assumption of environmental temperature is similar to or higher than previous estimate from palaeosol carbonates from cretaceous central india the depleted meteoric water composition observed in this study provides independent evidence of intensive precipitation during deccan trap eruption

variations in magnetic properties of target basalts with the direction of asteroid impact example from lonar crater india abstract the lonar crater in maharashtra state india has been completely excavated on the deccan traps basalt approximately 65 ma at approximately 570 47 ka by an oblique impact of a possible chondritic asteroid that struck the preimpact target from the east at an angle of approximately 30 45o to the horizon where the total duration of the shock event was approximately 1 s it is shown by our early work that the distribution of ejecta and deformation of target rocks around the crater rim are symmetrical to the east west plane of impact misra et al 2010 the present study shows that some of the rock magnetic properties of these shocked target basalts e g low field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams natural remanent magnetization nrm bulk susceptibility and high coercivity and high temperature hc ht magnetization component are also almost symmetrically oriented with reference to the plane of impact studies on the relative displacements of k3 minimum ams axes of shocked basalts from around the crater rim and from the adjacent target rocks to the approximately 2 3 km west of the crater center suggest that the impact stress could have branched out into the major southwestward and northwestward components in the downrange direction immediately after the impact the biaxial distribution of ams axes in stereographic plots for the unshocked basalts transforms mostly into triaxial distribution for the shocked basalts although transitional type distribution also exists the degree of anisotropy p of ams ellipsoids of the shocked basalts decreases by approximately 2 when compared with those of the unshocked target approximately 1 03 the nrm am 1 values of the shocked basalts on the rim of the lonar crater do not show much change in the uprange or downrange direction on and close to the east west plane of impact and the values are only approximately 1 5 times higher on average over the unshocked basalts around the crater however the values become approximately 1 4 16 4 times higher for the shocked basalts on the crater rim which occur obliquely to the plane of impact the target basalts at approximately 2 3 km west of the crater center in the downrange also show a significant increase up to approximately 26 times higher in nrm the majority of the shocked basalt samples approximately 73 from around the crater rim in general show a lowering of rem except those from approximately 2 3 km west of the crater center in the downrange where nearly half of the sample population shows a higher rem of approximately 3 63 in average the shocked target basalts around the lonar crater also acquired an hc ht magnetization component due to impact these hc ht components are mostly oriented in the uprange direction and are symmetrically disposed about the east west plane of impact making an obtuse angle with the direction of impact the low coercivity and low temperature lc lt components of both the unshocked and shocked basalts are statistically identical to the present day field pdf direction this could be chemical and or viscous remanent magnetization acquired by the target basalts during the last 570 47 ka subsequent to the formation of the lonar crater the shocked lonar target basalts appear to have remagnetized under high impact shock pressure and at low temperature of approximately 200 300 c where ti rich titanomagnetite was the main magnetic remanence carrier

active faulting in apparently stable peninsular india rift inversion and a holocene age great earthquake on the tapti fault we present observations of active faulting within peninsular india far from the surrounding plate boundaries offset alluvial fan surfaces indicate one or more magnitude 7 6 8 4 thrust faulting earthquakes on the tapti fault maharashtra western india during the holocene the high ratio of fault displacement to length on the alluvial fan offsets implies high stress drop faulting as has been observed elsewhere in the peninsula the along strike extent of the fan offsets is similar to the thickness of the seismogenic layer suggesting a roughly equidimensional fault rupture the subsiding footwall of the fault is likely to have been responsible for altering the continental scale drainage pattern in central india and creating the large west flowing catchment of the tapti river a preexisting sedimentary basin in the uplifting hanging wall implies that the tapti fault was active as a normal fault during the mesozoic and has been reactivated as a thrust highlighting the role of preexisting structures in determining the rheology and deformation of the lithosphere the slip sense of faults and earthquakes in india suggests that deformation south of the ganges foreland basin is driven by the compressive force transmitted between india and the tibetan plateau the along strike continuation of faulting to the east of the holocene ruptures we have studied represents a significant seismic hazard in central india

conduit diameter and buoyant rising speed of mantle plumes implications for the motion of hot spots and shape of plume conduits 1 mantle plumes are expected to be affected by large scale flow in the earth s mantle related to plate motions subducted slabs and possibly large scale upwellings motion of plume conduits will depend on both large scale flow and buoyant rising speed of the conduit through the mantle here we present a model of depth dependent plume conduit temperature viscosity radius and buoyant rising speed and use it to compute plume and hot spot motion results support a temperature anomaly of about 500 k at the plume base in this case sublithospheric temperature anomaly is about 150 k for the iceland plume transition zone anomaly is between 150 and 200 k for iceland about 250 k for samoa and about 300 k for hawaii thermal plume radii are about 100 km in the upper mantle increasing to about 200 km in the lower mantle beneath the lithosphere viscosity in the vicinity of plumes is substantially reduced compared to the underlying mantle and fast moving plates deflect plumes by 200 km or less corresponding to a plume conduit buoyant rise time of about 3 myr between 400 and 100 km depth where most of the shear flow due to plate motions occurs during 100 myr plume conduits rise buoyantly from about 1500 2000 km depth in many cases computed hot spot motion agrees with previous computations south southeastward motion of the hawaiian hot spot during the past 100 myr louisville hot spot motion in a similar direction but at slower speed during the past 50 myr and westward motion of the easter hot spot relative to hawaii and louisville however the previously computed substantial southward motion of the kerguelen hot spot is not confirmed if plume sources in the lowermost mantle are assumed to move with large scale flow they are predicted to be displaced toward the two large scale upwellings beneath africa and the pacific relative to hot spot surface locations for fixed sources predicted tilts of the lower part of conduits tend to be opposite to that

40ar 39ar age of plagioclase from acapulco meteorite and the problem of systematic errors in cosmochronology acapulcoites consistently yield some of the oldest 40ar 39ar ages reported for any meteorites all indistinguishable from the age of 4510 22 ma previously determined for whole rock samples of acapulco these ages are significantly younger at face value than the 4557 2 ma pb pb age reported for phosphates which dates cooling through 550 c metallographic evidence for rapid cooling between 650 and 350 c retention of 129xe in apatite and the absence of shock features all suggest that the 40ar 39ar ages might be expected to be more consistent with the pb pb age new 40ar 39ar data from plagioclase determined to be the sole k rich phase in acapulco yield a high precision isochron age of 4507 18 ma 2 based on currently accepted decay constants and standards but neglecting uncertainties in these quantities these data allow unambiguous association of the 40ar 39ar age with a closure temperature near 300 c and preclude the possibility of artifacts due to 39ar recoil low temperature alteration products or inherited pre solar grains the 40ar 39ar plagioclase age recalculated with decay constants believed to be more accurate than those conventionally used is 4554 ma weakening the basis of a previously inferred dramatic decrease in cooling rate shortly after closure of the pb pb system in phosphate systematic errors in 40ar 39ar dating associated chiefly with 40k decay constants and standards must be redressed before the method can be applied to high resolution inference of early solar system evolution similar limitations affect ages based on other long lived radionuclides such as 147sm

coastal ecosystem responses to late stage deccan trap volcanism the post k t boundary danian palynofacies of mumbai bombay west india abstract the deccan trap continental flood basalt eruptions of india occurred c 67 63 ma thus spanning the cretaceous tertiary boundary 65 ma deccan eruptions were coeval with an interval of profound global environmental and climatic changes and widespread extinctions and this timing has sparked controversy regarding the relative influence of deccan volcanism upon end cretaceous catastrophic events if deccan trap activity was capable of affecting global ecosystems evidence should be present in proximal indian sedimentary facies and their palaeontological contents the impact of late stage deccan volcanism upon biota inhabiting mumbai bombay island s post k t boundary lagoonal systems is documented here sediments or intertrappeans which accumulated within these lagoons are preserved between trap lavas that characterise the closing stages of this flood basalt episode mumbai island formation intertrappean faunal and floral communities are conspicuously distinct from those common to many pre k t boundary late maastrichtian intertrappeans across the deccan province the latter sedimentary intercalations mostly developed in cognate semiarid palustrine ecosystems by contrast those around mumbai evolved in sheltered peripheral marine settings within subsiding continental margin basins unique to this late deccan stage and under an increasingly humid danian climate geochemical analyses reveal that mumbai sedimentation and diagenesis were intimately related to local explosive volcanic and regional intrusive activity at c 65 63 ma although tectonic and igneous events imprinted their signatures throughout these sedimentary formations organisms usually sensitive to environmental perturbations including frogs and turtles thrived critically palynofacies data demonstrate that whilst plant material deposition was responsive to environmental shifts there were no palpable declines in floral productivity following mumbai pyroclastic discharges therefore it is implausible that this late stage explosive volcanism influenced major ecosystem collapses globally

relative and absolute dating of land surfaces abstract the dating of land surfaces has long posed problems for geomorphologists relative methods stratigraphic geomorphic topographic are sound and convincing exhumed forms may complicate identification and relationships for both epigene and etch forms have been buried and exhumed but in tectonically undisturbed areas the higher surfaces are older than those preserved at lower levels also surfaces have an age range the relationship of surfaces with volcanic deposits old shorelines and genetically related sedimentary sequences provides sound ages and correlation with dated duricrusts and faults is also useful there are no temporal limits to relative dating for the methods are equally applicable to the dating say of proterozoic surfaces as of those of pleistocene age the disadvantage of such methods is that the necessary evidence is frequently either not preserved or not exposed the so called absolute physical numerical methods and especially those based on exposure age dating with in situ cosmogenic radionuclides are appealing because they produce direct numerical ages and appear to be widely applicable but there are severe temporal limitations and sampling problems complicate and may invalidate interpretation absolute age determinations must be consistent with the stratigraphic and geomorphologic settings the best results are obtained when physicists and earth scientists pool their knowledge and experience a background in local and regional geology is especially important

imprints of diverse mantle deformational episodes in the cauvery suture zone south india abstract this study attempts to understand the upper mantle deformation pattern beneath the northern part of southern granulite terrain sgt located to the south of archean dharwar craton in south india the study region comprises the tectonic blocks nilgiri biligiri rangan shevaroy and madras blocks separated from the northern part of madurai block by the cauvery suture zone csz associated with subduction accretion collision tectonics shear wave splitting observed on high quality xk k s sks skks pks waveforms from 119 teleseismic events recorded by 19 broadband seismic stations mostly within the csz and the northern part of madurai block is utilized in this study the 122 splitting measurements obtained show an average delay time of 0 8 s between the fast and slow waves strong lateral variations in the fast polarization azimuths fpa are observed with the splitting parameters at the majority of stations showing a dependence on back azimuth importantly excluding the madras block a poor correlation between the fpa and the present day absolute plate motion apm direction is observed this dominance of non apm strain reflects complex anisotropy preserved in the lithosphere by plotting the fast polarization trends based on the ray piercing points at a depth of 150 km three distinct splitting patterns associated with the i biligiri rangan block and the eastern part of the nilgiri block ii eastern part of the csz and the northern madurai block nmb and iii madras block and its vicinity within the csz are observed the strong lateral heterogeneity in the deformation of the continental lithosphere might be either related with the shear zones that are associated with frozen magmatic intrusions two episodes of ocean closure and the collision that followed plate motion related strain or a combination of these similar deformation patterns in the northern part of madurai block might be related to remnants of subducted oceanic lithosphere

k t transition in deccan traps of central india marks major marine seaway across india deccan intertrappean sediments in central india are generally considered as terrestrial deposits of maastrichtian age but the cretaceous tertiary k t position is still unknown here we report the discovery of the k t transition a marine incursion and environmental changes preserved within the intertrappean sediments at jhilmili chhindwara district madhya pradesh integrative biostratigraphic sedimentologic mineralogic and chemostratigraphic analyses reveal the basal danian in the intertrappean sediments between lower and upper trap basalts that regionally correspond to c29r and the c29r c29n transition respectively intertrappean deposition occurred in predominantly terrestrial semi humid to arid environments but a short aquatic interval of fresh water ponds and lakes followed by shallow coastal marine conditions with brackish marine ostracods and early danian zone p1a planktic foraminifera mark this interval very close to the k t boundary this marine incursion marks the existence of a nearby seaway probably extending inland from the west through the narmada and tapti rift valleys the jhilmili results thus identify the k t boundary near the end of the main phase of deccan eruptions and indicate that a major seaway extended at least 800 km across india

geochemistry and paleomagnetism of late cretaceous mafic dikes in kerala southwest coast of india in relation to large igneous provinces and mantle plumes in the indian ocean region new geochemical and paleomagnetic results are presented on two late cretaceous dikes of the 85 90 ma leucogabbroic and doleritic dikes and the 65 70 ma dolerites in kerala india the dikes are rich in incompatible elements have fractionated patterns with light rare earth element enrichment and are akin geochemically to cretaceous basalts on the east coast of madagascar the magmas were formed at garnet lherzolite depths above the marion plume constituting part of a large igneous province in madagascar in contrast the 65 70 ma dolerites are moderately depleted in incompatible elements with almost flat rare earth element patterns and resemble the upper formations of the deccan traps and the tholeiitic dikes of the seychelles these dolerites were formed by melting of spinel lherzolite over the reunion plume paleomagnetic data from the dikes and the other coeval igneous units from south india provide the 90 ma pole latitude 24 longitude 293 a 95 5 9 n 18 sites for india the 65 70 ma dolerites possess both normal and reverse polarities and the mean pole latitude 36 longitude 283 a 95 5 7 n 10 sites compares well with the deccan superpole paleolatitude estimates indicate 5 southward migration for the marion plume and a northward migration for the reunion plume in conformity with global mantle circulation models however distinguishing migration of the reunion plume from the effects of true polar wander is difficult furthermore the geodynamic reconstructions extending the shear zones of southern madagascar into south india are not tenable

40ar 39ar ages of the sill complex of the karoo large igneous province implications for the pliensbachian toarcian climate change 1 reliable geochronological results gathered so far n 76 have considerably constrained the timing of the emplacement of the karoo large igneous province lip yet strikingly missing from this dating effort is the huge southern sill complex cropping out in the 0 6 106 km2 main karoo sedimentary basin we present 16 new 40ar 39ar analyses carried out on fresh plagioclase and biotite separates from 15 sill samples collected along a n s trend in the eastern part of the basin the results show a large range of plateau and miniplateau ages 176 2 1 3 to 183 8 2 4 ma with most dates suggesting a 3 ma 181 184 ma duration for the main sill events the available age database allows correlation of the karoo lip emplacement with the pliensbachian toarcian second order biotic extinction the global warming and the toarcian anoxic event provided that adequate calibration between the 40k and 238u decay constant is made the mass extinction and the isotopic excursions recorded at the base of the toarcian appear to be synchronous with both the increase of magma emission of the karoo lip and the emplacement of the sills the co2 and so2 derived from both volcanic emissions as well as carbon rich sedimentary layers intruded by sills might be the main culprits of the pliensbachian toarcian climate perturbations we propose that the relatively low eruption rate of the karoo lip is one of the main reasons explaining why its impact on the biosphere is relatively low contrary to e g the camp triassic jurassic and siberia permo triassic lips

greater india basin hypothesis and a two stage cenozoic collision between india and asia cenozoic convergence between the indian and asian plates pro duced the archetypical continental collision zone comprising the himalaya mountain belt and the tibetan plateau how and where india asia convergence was accommodated after collision at or be fore 52 ma remains a long standing controversy since 52 ma the two plates have converged up to 3 600 35 km yet the upper crustal shortening documented from the geological record of asia and the himalaya is up to approximately 2 350 km less here we show that the discrepancy between the convergence and the shortening can be explained by subduction of highly extended continental and oceanic indian lithosphere within the himalaya be tween approximately 50 and 25 ma paleomagnetic data show that this extended continental and oceanic greater india promontory resulted from 2 675 700 km of north south extension between 120 and 70 ma accommodated between the tibetan himalaya and cratonic india we suggest that the approximately 50 ma india asia collision was a collision of a tibetan himalayan microconti nent with asia followed by subduction of the largely oceanic greater india basin along a subduction zone at the location of the greater himalaya the hard india asia collision with thicker and contiguous indian continental lithosphere occurred around 25 20 ma this hard collision is coincident with far field deforma tion in central asia and rapid exhumation of greater himalaya crys talline rocks and may be linked to intensification of the asian monsoon system this two stage collision between india and asia is also reflected in the deep mantle remnants of subduction imaged with seismic tomography

the mount pavagadh volcanic suite deccan traps geochemical stratigraphy and magmatic evolution abstract the patterns of eruption and dispersal of flood basalt lavas on the surface or as magmas in dykes and sills within the crust determine the volcanological and stratigraphic development of flood basalt provinces this is a geochemical and sr isotopic study of lavas of varied compositions that outcrop around mount pavagadh 829 m deccan traps an important outlier north of the main basalt outcrop most of the 550 m thick exposed section at pavagadh is made up of subalkalic basalts rich in the incompatible elements particularly nb ba and sr picrite and rhyolite dacite flows also occur the latter capping the sequence the relatively high initial 87sr 86sr ratios up to 0 7083 and chemical characteristics of the rhyolitic rocks of pavagadh are consistent with a small but significant involvement of the granitic basement crust in their genesis an assimilation fractional crystallization afc model involving the picrite lava and either a southern indian or a western indian granite as the contaminant explains the geochemical and sr isotopic variation in the basalts and the rhyolites quite well a systematic comparison of the basaltic lavas with binary plots normalized multielement patterns and discriminant function analysis to the well established lava stratigraphy of the western ghats 400 500 km to the south precludes any chemical genetic relationships between the two basalts exposed in sections closer to pavagadh 150 200 km in the toranmal navagam and barwani mhow areas have several flows with some similar chemical characteristics however the pavagadh sequence is significantly different from all of these sequences geochemically petrogenetically and in magnetic polarity to be considered independently built this result is significant in terms of eruptive models for the deccan traps as it is increasingly apparent that there were separate but possibly coeval eruptive centers with their own distinctive chemistries developed in various areas of this vast province

40ar 39ar geochronology and the paleoposition of christmas island australia northeast indian ocean abstract the christmas island seamount province is an extensive zone of volcanism in the northeast indian ocean consisting of numerous submerged seamounts and flat topped guyots within this region lies two subaerial island groups christmas island and the cocos keeling archipelago christmas island has experienced multiple episodes of volcanism that are exposed sporadically along its coastline here we dated these volcanics using 40ar 39ar geochronology and analysed them for paleomagnetism the oldest exposed volcanism occurred in the eocene between 43 and 37 ma this is followed by a time gap of 33 million years before the eruption of a younger episode of pliocene age 4 32 0 17 ma it has however been suggested by previous workers that there is a much older late cretaceous event beneath the limestone which is unexposed in addition this study conducted the first paleomagnetic analysis of samples from christmas island to determine its paleoposition and the paleomagnetic polarity of the sampled sites two normal and two reversal magnetic events have been recorded that agree with the geomagnetic reversal timescales late eocene 38 39 ma palaeomagnetic data suggest a palaeolatitude of 43 5 11 2 9 0 which is further south than palaeolatitudes around 30 s derived from existing plate reconstruction models for the australian plate however the late eocene palaeomagnetic data are limited only two sites and secular variation may not have been averaged out during the pliocene ca 4 ma we estimate a palaeolatitude of approximately 13 s the presence of the late eocene ages at christmas island correlates well with the cessation of spreading of the wharton ridge 43 ma the initiation of spreading along the south east indian ridge and the transit of christmas island over a broad low velocity zone in the upper mantle this suggests that changes in stress regimes following the tectonic reorganisation of the region prior to 43 ma may have allowed deeper origin mantle melts to rise similarly changes in the plate s stress regime at the flexural bulge of the sunda java subduction zone may be implicated in renewed melting at 4 ma suggesting that tectonic stresses have exerted a first order effect on the timing and emplacement of volcanism at christmas island

biotic effects of late maastrichtian mantle plume volcanism implications for impacts and mass extinctions abstract during the late maastrichtian dsdp site 216 on ninetyeast ridge indian ocean passed over a mantle plume leading to volcanic eruptions islands built to sea level and catastrophic environmental conditions for planktic and benthic foraminifera the biotic effects were severe including dwarfing of all benthic and planktic species a 90 reduction in species diversity exclusion of all ecological specialists near absence of ecological generalists and dominance of the disaster opportunist guembelitria alternating with low o2 tolerant species these faunal characteristics are identical to those of the k t boundary mass extinction except that the fauna recovered after site 216 passed beyond the influence of mantle plume volcanism about 500 kyr before the k t boundary similar biotic effects have been observed in madagascar israel and egypt the direct correlation between mantle plume volcanism and biotic effects on ninetyeast ridge and the similarity to the k t mass extinction which is generally attributed to a large impact reveal that impacts and volcanism can cause similar environmental catastrophes this raises the inevitable question are mass extinctions caused by impacts or mantle plume volcanism the unequivocal correlation between intense volcanism and high stress assemblages necessitates a review of current impact and mass extinction theories

new palaeomagnetic data from the mahabaleshwar plateau deccan flood basalt province india implications for the volcanostratigraphic architecture of continental flood basalt provinces abstract new magnetostratigraphic data from seven western ghats sections in the deccan volcanic province are presented these are combined with an established geochemically defined stratigraphy and volcanological logs to provide a correlated chronological eruptive framework we identify two magnetic polarities in five of the sections and these are assigned to chrons 29r and 29n importantly the reversal boundary represents an identifiable isochronous surface within the volcanic pile this surface occurs at different elevations as does the altitude of the geochemically defined formation boundary i e ambenali mahabaleshwar fms which defines a second isochronous surface inspection reveals significant differences in the number and thickness of lava units preserved between these two surfaces this indicates that there was significant local topography c 80 m across deccan volcanic province lava fields during their development an interpretation consistent with topographies observed across modern and historical examples e g hawaii iceland these data also indicate that the geochemical stratigraphies of continental flood basalt provinces can mask local and sub regional detail in lava stacking patterns when applied at smaller spatial scales 2 10 4 m finally transitional r n directions preserved in some eruptive units place constraints upon the rates of eruption and indicate c 2 ka periods of volcanic repose

impact did not trigger deccan volcanism evidence from anjar k t boundary intertrappean sediments many hypotheses including asteroidal and cometary impacts deccan volcanism impact induced volcanism and coincidental impact and volcanism have been put forth to explain the observed enhancement of iridium and mass extinction at the k t boundary ktb the identification of ktb layer within the deccan intertrappean sediments at anjar about half way between flow iii and flow iv provides new constraints on some of these hypotheses the chemical characteristics of this layer show high concentrations of ir os and other siderophiles accompanied by enrichment of chalcophiles and depletion of lithophiles the os ir 1 1 close to the meteoritic value and other chemical and stratigraphic criteria indicate that it may be the ejecta fallout layer resulting from a bolide impact at the ktb presence of three basalt flows below this layer implies that the volcanism was already active when this layer was deposited and impact of the k t bolide did not trigger deccan volcanism

magnitude and timing of episodic sea level rise during the last deglaciation a succession of elevated ridge deposits on the south florida margin was mapped using high resolution seismic and side scan sonar imaging in water depths ranging from 50 to 124 m the ridges are interpreted to be subtidal shoal complexes and paleoshorelines eolian dune or beach formed during the last sea level transgression oolitic and skeletal grainstones and mixed skeletal peloidal ooid packstones were recovered using a research submersible all of the grains are of shallow water or intertidal origin and both marine and nonmarine cements were identified formation and preservation of these features are attributed to episodic and rapid changes in the rate of the deglacial sea level rise at the onset of the termination 1a 18o excursion this high resolution record of sea level change appears to be related to deglacial processes operating on submillennial time scales and supports increasing evidence of rapid episodic fluctuations in ice volume climate and ocean circulation patterns during glacial interglacial transitions

tectonic evolution of the chinese tianshan orogen from subduction to arc continent collision insight from polyphase deformation along the gangou section central asia the central asian orogenic belt as the largest accretionary orogen on earth is an ideal candidate to study the geodynamics of convergent plate boundaries through a prolonged period the evolution of this orogen has been explained by different tectonic models which incorporated one or a combination of the following mechanisms lateral stacking of arc systems along major shear zones arc amalgamation oroclinal bending and trench migration here we elucidate major mechanisms responsible for the tectonic evolution of the central asian orogenic belt focusing on the chinese tianshan orogen in the southern central asian orogenic belt structural observations from the 50 km long gangou section show evidence of polyphase deformation the earliest episode of orogen parallel sinistral shearing constrained to the early devonian ca 399 ma by syn deformational intrusions was possibly controlled by oblique subduction this was followed by an episode of ne sw contractional deformation dated at ca 356 ma 40ar 39ar age of syn deformational hornblende and likely associated with an episode of trench advance the third stages of deformation during the latest carboniferous and permian involved ne sw contraction orogen parallel extension and dextral transpression our new geochronological data constrain the timing of orogen parallel extension to ca 303 293 ma and confirm that dextral activation along shear zones occurred during the permian the results highlight the role of trench migration oblique tectonics and syn collisional orogen parallel extension in the build up of the central asian orogenic belt and contribute to the pre collisional reconstruction of this orogenic system

acceleration and deceleration of india asia convergence since the cretaceous roles of mantle plumes and continental collision 1 a strong 50 35 ma decrease in india asia convergence is generally ascribed to continent continent collision however a convergence rate increase of similar magnitude occurred between 65 50 ma an earlier increase occurred at 90 ma both episodes of accelerated convergence followed upon arrival of a mantle plume below and emplacement of a large igneous province lip on the indian plate we here first confirm these convergence rate trends reassessing the indo atlantic plate circuits then using two different numerical models we assess whether plume head arrival and its lateral asthenospheric flow may explain the plate velocity increases and whether decreased plume flux and increasing continent plume distance may explain deceleration even without continental collision the results show that plume head arrival can indeed lead to absolute indian plate motion accelerations on the order of several cm yr followed by decelerations on timescales similar to the reconstructed fluctuations the 90 ma increase could potentially be explained as response to the morondova mantle plume alone the 65 50 ma convergence rate increase however is larger than can be explained by plume head spreading alone we concur with previous hypotheses that plume induced weakening of the indian continental lithosphere asthenosphere coupling and an increased slab pull and ridge push efficiency are the most likely explanations for the large convergence rate increase the post 50 ma decrease is best explained by orogeny related increased trench resistivity decreased slab pull due to continental subduction and possibly restrengthening of lithosphere asthenosphere coupling upon plume demise

critical evaluation of the age of the deccan traps india implications for flood basalt volcanism and faunal extinctions attempts to evaluate the possible link between flood basalt volcanism and the faunal extinctions observed at the k t boundary must rely on precise knowledge of the amount of such volcanism that took place 65 ma the current geochronological data do not permit close resolution of either the timing or the duration of deccan volcanism the age of the bulk of the material is placed in the range 70 60 ma further resolution of this hypothesis awaits acquisition of high quality 40 ar 39 ar plateau ages on key sections of the deccan traps

comparison of 40ar 39ar conventional and laser dating of biotites from the north tregor batholith bulk samples and single grains of biotites from the north tregor batholite armorican massif france were analysed by the 40ar39ar method apparently pure single biotite grains analysed by the step heating procedure with the laser probe displayed plateau ages or slightly disturbed age spectra one strongly chloritized single biotite grain gave a very disturbed age spectrum with younger ages the bulk samples of biotites of the same rocks displayed disturbed age spectra characterized by younger low temperature ages and a hump at intermediate temperature steps these disturbances are explained by 39ar recoil from the biotite into the chlorite which is clearly evidenced by hrtem observations and not by excess 40ar the more concordant results obtained on single biotites are probably due to a more careful selection of the minerals in most cases we obtain good concordance of the ages 600 610 ma measured on the apparently pure single biotite grains and the high temperature ages of both the bulk samples of amphiboles and biotites from the same rocks

the deccan trap cretaceous paleogene boundary connection new 40ar 39ar ages and critical assessment of existing argon data pertinent to this hypothesis abstract the cretaceous paleogene boundary kpgb was dated by the 40ar 39ar method herein from the western interior of north america at 65 48 0 12 ma 1 in good agreement with other recent published estimates for the deccan traps india new argon ages as well as others available in the literature are assessed for reliability based on a statistical reliability of plateau isochron sections and b freshness of material dated utilizing the alteration index method from tholeiitic lavas from the composite western ghats section cwgs only six ages are found to be reliable estimates of the time of crystallization these ages along with the magnetic polarity of the lavas agree with the geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts at 67 64 ma alkaline rocks from the anjar area of kutch provide three reliable ages that suggest a hiatus in lava extrusion around kpgb for the rajahmundry basalts the upper flow s age defines its formation during chron 29n a single age from the lower reversed polarity flow appears somewhat dichotomous when plotted against the gpts the reliable lava ages indicate the most voluminous reversed polarity sections of the cwgs were extruded at a time statistically indistinguishable from that of the kpgb the deccan trap kpgb faunal extinction hypothesis remains plausible but must compete with the latest report favoring a very close temporal connection 0 03 m y between the chixculub impact crater and the kpgb

tests of fixity of the indo atlantic hot spots relative to pacific hot spots rates of inter hot spot motion have been debated for decades herein we present updated predictions for the tracks of the tristan da cunha reunion and iceland hot spots assuming them to be fixed relative to pacific hot spots uncertainties in pacific hot spot rotations which include uncertainties in the current locations of hot spots of 100 200 km are combined with uncertainties in relative plate motions accumulated through the plate circuit to obtain the final uncertainty in the predicted positions including uncertainties of 150 200 km in the current locations of the indo atlantic hot spots improvements to reconstruction methods to relative plate reconstructions to age dates along the tracks and to the geomagnetic reversal timescale lead to significant changes from prior results when compared with the observed tracks the predicted tracks indicate nominal rates of motion of only 2 6 mm a 1 of these indo atlantic hot spots relative to pacific hot spots over the past 48 ma within the uncertainties the rates range from no motion to rates as high as 8 13 mm a 1 for reconstructions prior to 48 ma b p however the apparent rates of inter hot spot motion are much larger 46 55 20 mm a 1 if the motion occurred entirely between 68 ma b p and 48 ma b p either hot spots moved rapidly before 48 ma b p and slowed drastically at 48 ma b p or global plate circuits through antarctica become less reliable as one goes increasingly further into the past most paleomagnetic data favor the latter explanation

mountain building and mantle dynamics 1 mountain building at convergent margins requires tectonic forces that can overcome frictional resistance along large scale thrust faults and support the gravitational potential energy stored within the thickened crust of the orogen a general dynamic model for this process is still lacking here we propose that mountain belts can be classified between two end members first those of slab pull type where subduction is mainly confined to the upper mantle and rollback trench motion lead to moderately thick crustal stacks such as in the mediterranean second those of slab suction type where whole mantle convection cells conveyor belts lead to the more extreme expressions of orogeny such as the largely thickened crust and high plateaus of present day tibet and the altiplano for the slab suction type deep mantle convection produces the unique conditions to drag plates toward each other irrespective of their nature and other boundary conditions we support this hypothesis by analyzing the orogenic volcanic and convective history associated with the tertiary formation of the andes after 40 ma and himalayas after collision at 55 ma based on mantle circulation modeling and tectonic reconstructions we surmise that the forces necessary to sustain slab suction mountain building in those orogens derive after transient slab ponding from the mantle drag induced upon slab penetration into the lower mantle and from an associated surge of mantle upwelling beneath africa this process started at 65 55 ma for tibet himalaya when the tethyan slab penetrated into the lower mantle and 10 myr later in the andes when the nazca slab did this surge of mantle convection drags plates against each other generating the necessary compressional forces to create and sustain these two orogenic belts if our model is correct the available geological records of orogeny can be used to decipher time dependent mantle convection with implications for the supercontinental cycle

disaster opportunists guembelitrinidae index for environmental catastrophes blooms of the disaster opportunist guembelitria species are proxies for environmental catastrophes whether impact or volcanism leading to severe biotic stress crises that may range from temporary exclusion of ecological specialists and generalists to mass extinctions during the late maastrichtian and early danian zones p0 and pla guembelitria blooms show global distributions but with the largest blooms 40 80 guembelitria in low and middle latitudes and only minor blooms 10 20 in high latitudes late maastrichtian guembelitria blooms are so far known from the indian ocean and eastern tethys the most intense guembelitria blooms 60 guembelitria occurred in shallow continental shelf areas slope shelf margins and volcanic provinces of the indian ocean what these environments have in common is high nutrient influx eutrophication either from continental runoff upwelling along continental margins or volcanic input at times of biotic crises guembelitria blooms may have spread rapidly to the exclusion of most or all other species much like today s red tides but with near global distributions a simple model can explain the ecological succession and recovery phases that follow major biotic perturbations caused by impacts or volcanism that lead to exclusion of specialist and most generalist species within such highly stressed environments guembelitria is the only genus to thrive and without competition rapidly reproduce and exponentially increase their populations when nutrients are depleted populations rapidly decrease leading to ecologic niches for other generalists and ecosystem recovery small low o2 tolerant heterohelicid populations mark this second stage followed by small trochospiral and planispiral species with further environmental recovery increasing competition niche development and restoration of a well stratified water mass oligotrophic conditions are restored opening habitats for the highly specialized and diverse species and a return to normal diverse assemblages this ecological succession is observed in association with mantle plume volcanism in the indian ocean and eastern tethys during the late maastrichtian and in association with the k t impact and volcanism during the early tertiary d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

the panvel flexure along the western indian continental margin an extensional fault structure related to deccan magmatism abstract on the basis of field observations aided by remote sensing data a new model for the western indian panvel flexure is proposed the model involves normal motion on east dipping faults and westward tilting of fault blocks the flexuring occurred by attenuation and foundering of continental crust due to crustal thinning and loading by a dyke swarm following a period of massive magmatic discharge accompanying the continental break up and opening of indian ocean during early tertiary times

k ar and ar ar dating the aim of this chapter is to present the k ar and ar ar dating techniques in the context of noble gas studies since there are already several recent texts on k ar and ar ar dating dickin 1995 mcdougall and harrison 1999 the focus of this section will be aspects of argon transport and storage in the crust which affect k ar and ar ar dating including ar loss from minerals by diffusion and ar gain by minerals or excess argon the k ar dating technique was one of the earliest isotope dating techniques developed soon after the discovery of radioactive potassium and provided an important adjunct to u pb and u he dating techniques the ease of measurement and ideal half life 1250 million years see table 2 below for dating geological events has made this the most popular of isotopic dating techniques aldrich and nier 1948 first demonstrated that 40ar was the product of the decay of 40k and soon after k ar ages were being measured in several laboratories most often using an absolute method such as a mcleod gauge to measure argon concentrations the first published k ar results by such a technique were those of smits and gentner 1950 who analyzed sylvite from the buggingen oligocene evaporite deposits obtaining an age of 20 million years mass spectrometers which simultaneously measured very small amounts of gas and the isotope ratios necessary to make corrections for atmospheric contamination quickly replaced manometric techniques crucially the use of static vacuum techniques pioneered by john reynolds at the university of california berkeley meant that mass spectrometers were sufficiently sensitive to analyse the small amounts of gas released from common rocks and minerals although the earliest mass spectrometers were built in house the introduction of the commercially available ms10 farrar et al 1964 a small 180 metal mass spectrometer built for