Volumetric Extrusive Rates of Silicic Supereruptions from the Afro-Arabian Large Igneous Province

Authors

Jennifer E. Thines, University of Iowa
Ingrid A. Ukstins, University of Aukland
Corey Wall, Boise State UniversityFollow
Mark Schmitz, Boise State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2-2021

Abstract

The main phase of silicic volcanism from the Afro-Arabian large igneous province preserves some of the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth, with six units totaling >8,600 km³ dense rock equivalent (DRE). The large volumes of rapidly emplaced individual eruptions present a case study for examining the tempo of voluminous silicic magma generation and emplacement. Here were report high-precision ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U zircon ages and show that the largest sequentially dated eruptions occurred within 48 ± 34 kyr (29.755 ± 0.023 Ma to 29.707 ± 0.025 Ma), yielding the highest known long-term volumetric extrusive rate of silicic volcanism on Earth. While these are the largest known sequential silicic supereruptions, they did not cause major global environmental change. We also provide a robust tie-point for calibration of the geomagnetic polarity timescale by integrating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data with our ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages to yield new constraints on the duration of the C11n.1r Subchron.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Information

Thines, Jennifer E.; Ukstins, Ingrid A.; Wall, Corey; and Schmitz, Mark. (2021). "Volumetric Extrusive Rates of Silicic Supereruptions from the Afro-Arabian Large Igneous Province". Nature Communications, 12, 6299. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26468-5