The Kiss of Death: LIPS

The kiss of death?: LIPs (Large Igneous Provinces) and mass extinction events

Dr. Andrew Kerr, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University

      Bath Geol Soc Thurs 6th November. Minibus leaves at 1745

The nature and causes of mass extinctions in the geological past have been intensely debated for the past three decades. Central to this debate are the questions of whether one or several bolide impacts, the eruption of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), or a combination of the two, were the primary mechanisms driving the environmental and habitat changes that are universally regarded as the proximate causes for four of the five major Phanerozoic mass extinction events. 

Recent years have seen a revolution in our understanding of both the interplanetary environment and LIP eruptions and their environmental effects, such that the widely-accepted simple impact-kill scenario no longer seems adequate for the end-Cretaceous or any other mass extinction events. For example, single large impacts, (e.g., Chicxulub) as primary cause of mass extinctions have been questioned by planetary and space scientists because such impactors originating from the asteroid belt are random and rare.