Ar/[sup.39]Ar dates from the West Siberian Basin: Siberian flood basalt province doubled

Widespread basaltic volcanism occurred in the region of the West Siberian Basin in central Russia during Permo-Triassic times. New [sup.40]Ar/[sup.39]Ar age determinations on plagioclase grains from deep boreholes in the basin reveal that the basalts were erupted 249.4 ± 0.5 million years ago. This...

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Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 296; no. 5574; pp. 1846 - 1849
Main Authors Reichow, Marc K, Saunders, Andrew D, White, Rosalind V, Pringle, Malcolm S, Al'Mukhamedov, Alexander I, Medvedev, Alexander I, Kirda, Nikolay P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Association for the Advancement of Science 07.06.2002
Subjects
Analysis
Basalt
Lava
Paleogeophysics
Surface (Geology)
Volcanological research
United Kingdom
Russia
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Summary:Widespread basaltic volcanism occurred in the region of the West Siberian Basin in central Russia during Permo-Triassic times. New [sup.40]Ar/[sup.39]Ar age determinations on plagioclase grains from deep boreholes in the basin reveal that the basalts were erupted 249.4 ± 0.5 million years ago. This is synchronous with the bulk of the Siberian Traps, erupted further east on the Siberian Platform. The age and geochemical data confirm that the West Siberian Basin basalts are part of the Siberian Traps and at [east double the confirmed area of the volcanic province as a whole. The larger area of volcanism strengthens the link between the volcanism and the end-Permian mass extinction.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1071671