Investigating the Environmental and Biological Response to Deccan Volcanism

研究德干火山活动的环境和生物反应主要研究者：Gerta Keller教授，普林斯顿大学地球科学，Princeton NJ 08544, email: gkeller@princeton.eduAbstractDeccan火山喷发分三个阶段发生，主要阶段为29R时的第二阶段，位于马斯垂克底，占整个3500米厚的德干熔岩堆的80%。地球上最长的四个熔岩流跨越1000多公里，穿过印度，流入孟加拉湾，结束于白垩纪-第三纪（KT）大灭绝（Keller et al., 2008, 2009a,b）。在第三纪研究中，德干火山活动与大灭绝的潜在因果关系尚不清楚。这个项目解决了这个问题。主要目的是调查这些最长熔岩流的生物和环境后果及其对海洋生物的影响。这是有问题的，因为德干火山喷发主要是大陆喷发。我们在印度东部、中部和西南部发现了海相层序。在这个项目中，我们计划调查露头，并在安得拉邦拉贾蒙德里的两个采石场钻两个50米深的井，以恢复马斯特里赫特人最后1米的记录。此外，我们计划在古吉拉特邦进行实地考察，收集河口环境中沉积的上马斯特里赫特沉积物。这些记录将在一个多学科国际合作项目中进行分析，该项目包括美国、印度和瑞士的科学家和学生，他们将在这项研究的各个阶段进行合作，从实地考察到分析、解释和撰写论文发表。要研究的具体主题包括火山作用对底栖和浮游有孔虫、钙质纳米化石、介形类和岩形动物的生物和环境影响，以及基于稳定同位素、沉积学、微相、体积和粘土矿物学的气候、生产力和氧气的变化。该项目收集的数据库将是第一个直接评估大型火成岩省（LIP）对生命的影响，其方法可能适用于与LIP相关的其他大规模灭绝。该项目得到了国际科学与工程办公室印度项目的共同资助。

Investigating the Environmental and Biological Response to Deccan Volcanism Principle Investigator: Prof. Gerta Keller, Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, email: gkeller@princeton.eduAbstractDeccan volcanic eruptions occurred in three phases with the main phase-2 in chron 29R at the end of the Maastrichtian accounting for 80% of the entire 3500 m thick Deccan lava pile. Four of Earth's longest lava flows span over 1000 km across India and out into the Bay of Bengal ending with the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) mass extinction (Keller et al., 2008, 2009a,b). Still unknown in KT studies is the potential cause-and-effect relationship of Deccan volcanism and the mass extinction. This project addresses this problem. The main objective is to investigate the biological and environmental consequences of these longest lava flows and their effects upon marine life. This has been problematic because Deccan eruptions are largely continental. We have discovered marine sequences in eastern, central and southwestern India. For this project we plan to investigate outcrops as well as drill two 50 m deep wells in two quarries of Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, to recover the last 1 m.y. record of the Maastrichtian. In addition, we plan fieldwork in Gujarat to collect upper Maastrichtian sediments deposited in an estuarine environment. These records will be analyzed in a multidisciplinary international collaboration project that includes US, Indian and Swiss scientists and students who will be collaborating in all phases of this research, from fieldwork to analyses, interpretation and writing papers for publication. Specific topics to be investigated include the biological and environmental effects of volcanism upon benthic and planktic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils, ostracods and palynomorphs, as well as changes in climate, productivity and oxygen based on stable isotopes, sedimentology, microfacies, bulk and clay mineralogy. The database collected under this project will be the first direct evaluation of the effects of a large igneous province (LIP) upon life and the methods are potentially applicable to other mass extinctions associated with LIPs. This project is supported with cofunding from the Office of International Science and Engineering's India Program.