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

About This Grant

Large Igneous Province volcanism is associated with extraordinary mantle melting and voluminous eruptive episodes, which have been linked to major mass extinctions through the past half-billion years of Earth’s history. 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 after these catastrophic events remain unknown, despite implications for potential climate system tipping points. In particular, unexpectedly protracted periods of warm climate and delayed environmental and biological recovery following some Large Igneous Provinces underscore a fundamental lack of understanding of the gases released during the waning stages of these events and/or controls on global climate. This project will carry out a multi-disciplinary effort combining field observations; high-resolution records of volcanism, climate, weathering, and life; and numerical modeling to understand co-evolution of solid and surface Earth during perturbation and recovery. This is a project jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This project is co-funded by the Directorate for Geosciences to support AI/ML advancement in the geosciences. This project addresses a fundamental unanswered question: what processes shape climate and biotic recovery from major Large Igneous Province-driven carbon cycle perturbations? The project aims to test the new overarching hypothesis that a large-scale transition in crustal rheology shuts down Large Igneous Province volcanism, but continued mantle melting drives cryptic Carbon Dioxide release and delays climate and biotic recovery. If correct, this hypothesis implies that cryptic degassing—Carbon Dioxide release through the crust decoupled from eruption rates—is a key, and previously unaccounted for, control on the climatic conditions and tempo characterizing recovery. To test this hypothesis, this project pursues four key scientific objectives: 1) development of high-resolution, multi-disciplinary records of volcanism and weathering, 2) coupling of models of mantle geodynamics, magma transport, and outgassing, 3) assimilation of records of past climate and weathering into climate-biogeochemical modeling to invert for outgassing fluxes and place top-down constraints on interior evolution, 4) integration of paleobiological databases with records and modeling of volcanism, climate and weathering to test factors shaping which types of organisms thrive beyond recovery. The project leverages three powerful natural laboratory Large Igneous Provinces 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. The project will carry out a sustained outreach/inreach effort in northeastern Oregon, the epicenter of Columbia River Basalt volcanism and site of project field work. Activities aim to humanize science and enhance education through engagement of rural communities. Project PIs and students will engage school-age children in Oregon and New Jersey, and global Large Igneous Province researchers through: a data portal and set of virtual field trips; Large Igneous Provinces for Kids programming in the form of visits to Wallowa county schools and ‘Write a Scientist’ correspondences with project scientists; and a field forum at the mid-point of the project that will welcome the Large Igneous Province community. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.