Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (19) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Jourdan, F. Articles by Le Gall, B. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Karoo large igneous province: Brevity, origin, and relation to mass extinction questioned by new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data

Fred Jourdan^*,1, Gilbert Féraud¹, Hervé Bertrand², Ali Bashira Kampunzu^,3, Gomotsang Tshoso³, Michael K. Watkeys⁴ and Bernard Le Gall⁵

¹ Unités Mixtes de Recherch-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR-CNRS) 6526 Géosciences Azur, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, O6108 Nice, France
² Unités Mixtes de Recherch-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR-CNRS) 5570, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon et Université Claude Bernard, 69364 Lyon, France
³ Department of Geology, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
⁴ School of Geological and Computer Sciences, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
⁵ Unités Mixtes de Recherch-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR-CNRS) 6538, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, 29280, Plouzané, France

The peak activities of continental flood basalts are currently considered as huge and brief (1 m.y.) magmatic events, with strong implications for geodynamics and biotic turnover. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates on the Karoo flood basalts (southern Africa) show a longer duration of magmatism (8 m.y., with 6 m.y. for the main volume) with an apparent south-to-north migration, along with briefer distinctive pulses inside the province. This suggests that the Karoo province does not fit the general plume model invoked for most continental flood basalts (including the Karoo) and may explain the absence of a major contemporaneous mass extinction.

Key Words: Ar/Ar dating • flood basalts • magmatism migration • mantle plume • mass extinction

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. STONE, P.C. RICHARDS, G.S. KIMBELL, R.P. ESSER, and D. REEVES Cretaceous dykes discovered in the Falkland Islands: implications for regional tectonics in the South Atlantic Journal of the Geological Society, January 1, 2008; 165(1): 1 - 4. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Jourdan, H. Bertrand, U. Scharer, J. Blichert-Toft, G. Feraud, and A. B. Kampunzu Major and Trace Element and Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb Isotope Compositions of the Karoo Large Igneous Province, Botswana-Zimbabwe: Lithosphere vs Mantle Plume Contribution J. Petrology, June 1, 2007; 48(6): 1043 - 1077. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Beerling and S. J. Brentnall Numerical evaluation of mechanisms driving Early Jurassic changes in global carbon cycling Geology, March 1, 2007; 35(3): 247 - 250. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. B. Wignall, R. J. Newton, and C. T.S. Little The timing of paleoenvironmental change and cause-and-effect relationships during the early Jurassic mass extinction in Europe Am J Sci, December 1, 2005; 305(10): 1014 - 1032. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]