NSFGEO-NERC: After the cataclysm: cryptic degassing and delayed recovery in the wake of Large Igneous Province volcanism

Large Igneous Province (LIP) volcanism is associated with extraordinary mantle melting and voluminous eruptive episodes, which have been linked to mass extinctions of life throughout the Phanerozoic.
Significant research over the last three decades has brought the extreme nature of these events into focus. But controls on the nature and tempo of recovery, a topic of emerging interest that highlights potential Earth system tipping points and state shifts, remain unknown. Unexpectedly protracted greenhouse conditions and delayed recovery following multiple Phanerozoic LIPs underscore a fundamental lack of understanding, either of LIP magmatic climate forcing processes or global silicate weathering feedbacks. We propose that cryptic LIP outgassing and weathering combine to shape climate and life after the main phase of volcanism. This proposal will support a multi-disciplinary effort combining field observations; high-resolution records of volcanism, climate, weathering, and paleobiota; and numerical modeling to understand co-evolution of solid and surface Earth during perturbation and recovery. We will leverage three powerful natural laboratory LIPs and climate events, building from the youngest and best-resolved, the Columbia River Basalts and Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum; to the more voluminous North Atlantic Igneous Province, Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum; and finally to the Siberian Traps, catastrophic end-Permian mass extinction, and early Triassic hothouse.

This project will support an interdisciplinary joint U.S.-U.K. project team including two early career PIs and a sustained outreach/inreach effort in northeastern Oregon, the epicenter of Columbia River Basalt volcanism and site of project field work.