Publication Abstracts
Rampino and Stothers 1988
Rampino, M.R., and , 1988: Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years. Science, 241, 663-668, doi:10.1126/science.241.4866.663.
A chronology of the initiation dates of major continental flood basalt volcanism is establshed from published potassium-argon (K-Ar) and argon-argon (Ar-Ar) ages of basaltic rocks and related basic intrusions. The dating is therefore independent of the biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic timescales. Estimated errors of the initiation dates of the volcanic episodes determined from the distributions of the radiometric ages are, approximately, plus or minus 4 percent. There were 11 distinct episodes during the past 250 million years. Sometimes appearing in pairs, the episodes have occurred quasi-periodically with a mean cycle time of 32±1 (estimated error of the mean) million years. The initiation dates of the episodes are close to the estimated dates of mass extinctions of marine organisms. Showers of impacting comets may be the cause.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{ra02000x,
author={Rampino, M. R. and Stothers, R. B.},
title={Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years},
year={1988},
journal={Science},
volume={241},
pages={663--668},
doi={10.1126/science.241.4866.663},
}
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - ra02000x AU - Rampino, M. R. AU - Stothers, R. B. PY - 1988 TI - Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years JA - Science JO - Science VL - 241 SP - 663 EP - 668 DO - 10.1126/science.241.4866.663 ER -
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