RE: Bigass volcanism (was RE: Human bottlenecks and bird taxonomy (was: Re: "Dinosaurs Died Within Hours...))

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> JAMES ARONIS
>
> Weren't the Siberian Traps the largest known volcanic eruption ever? I
> recently read that the amount of lava flow could have covered the entire
> surface of the earth under 10ft. of lava if spread evenly. The Siberian
> Traps eruption is considered one of the key players in the Great Dying.
>
> http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/SiberianTraps.html
> http://www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/ear/basu2.htm

The Siberian Traps seem to have been produced by the largest SERIES of
eruptions in Phanerozoic history, but it wasn't a single eruption.  Indeed,
if they were produced by just one eruption, they wouldn't be called "Traps"
(Dutch for "steps"): the fact that you had flow after flow after flow with
long periods (years, maybe centuries or more) in between events produces the
layered effect, which weathers out into steps.

The Millbrig/Big Bentonite eruption, on the other hand, seems to have been
one great big Ka-POW!

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796