Volcanoes & Mass Extinctions
Explain how large igneous provinces (LIPs) — massive outpourings of lava over millions of years — caused global warming and ocean acidification that drove mass extinctions; connect the Siberian Traps to the end-Permian extinction and the Deccan Traps to the end-Cretaceous event; explore how hydrothermal vents on the early Earth may have been the cradle of life; understand volcanoes as both destroyers and creators in the history of life
The lesson
Sometimes a volcano does not erupt in one dramatic blast. Instead, cracks in the crust pour out lava again and again for hundreds of thousands, even millions, of years. Geologists call the giant slab of hardened lava left behind a large igneous province, or LIP. A single LIP can bury an area the size of a small country under layer after layer of rock.
About 252 million years ago, the Siberian Traps in Russia began erupting. The gases they released, mostly carbon dioxide and sulfur, spiked global temperatures and turned the oceans acidic and low in oxygen. Around 90 percent of species died out in what scientists now call the Great Dying, the worst mass extinction on record.
About 66 million years ago, a similar story played out with the Deccan Traps in what is now India. Those eruptions overlapped with the end-Cretaceous extinction, the event that wiped out the dinosaurs. Many scientists think the volcanic gases weakened ecosystems around the same time a massive asteroid struck, making the double blow even harder to survive.
Volcanoes are not only destroyers. On the early ocean floor, hydrothermal vents released hot, mineral-rich water full of chemical energy. Many scientists think that energy may have helped power the very first living cells, long before the Siberian or Deccan Traps ever existed.
Giant volcanic eruptions can warm the planet and turn oceans acidic enough to drive mass extinctions, but volcanic vents may also have helped spark life in the first place.
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