The end-Triassic extinction is one of the Phanerozoic's largest mass extinctions. This extinction is typically attributed to climate change associated with degassing of basalt flows from the central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP). However, recent work suggests that the earliest known CAMP basalts occur above the extinction horizon and that climatic and biotic changes began before the earliest known CAMP eruptions. Here we present new high-precision U-Pb ages from CAMP mafic intrusive units, showing that magmatic activity was occurring ∼100 Kyr ago before the earliest known eruptions. We correlate the early magmatic activity with the onset of changes to the climatic and biotic records. We also report ages from sills in an organic rich sedimentary basin in Brazil that intrude synchronously with the extinction suggesting that degassing of these organics contributed to the climate change which drove the extinction. Our results indicate that the intrusive record from large igneous provinces may be more important for linking to mass extinctions than the eruptive record.

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The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) is a large igneous province (LIP) composed of basic dykes, sills, layered intrusions and lava flows emplaced before Pangea break-up and currently distributed on the four continents surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. One of the oldest, best preserved and most complete sub-provinces of the CAMP is located in Morocco. Geochemical, geochronologic, petrographic and magnetostratigraphic data obtained in previous studies allowed identification of four strato-chemical magmatic units, i.e. the Lower, Intermediate, Upper and Recurrent units. For this study, we completed a detailed sampling of the CAMP in Morocco, from the Anti Atlas in the south to the Meseta in the north. We provide a complete mineralogical, petrologic (major and trace elements on whole-rocks and minerals), geochronologic (40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb ages) and geochemical set of data (including Sr–Nd–Pb–Os isotope systematics) for basaltic and basaltic–andesitic lava flow piles and for their presumed feeder dykes and sills. Combined with field observations, these data suggest a very rapid (<0·3 Ma) emplacement of over 95% of the preserved magmatic rocks. In particular, new and previously published data for the Lower to Upper unit samples yielded indistinguishable 40Ar/39Ar (mean age = 201·2 ± 0·8 Ma) and U–Pb ages (201·57 ± 0·04 Ma), suggesting emplacement coincident with the main phase of the end-Triassic biotic turnover (c.201·5 to 201·3 Ma). Eruptions are suggested to have been pulsed with rates in excess of 10 km3/year during five main volcanic pulses, each pulse possibly lasting only a few centuries. Such high eruption rates reinforce the likelihood that CAMP magmatism triggered the end-Triassic climate change and mass extinction. Only the Recurrent unit may have been younger but by no more than 1 Ma. Whole-rock and mineral geochemistry constrain the petrogenesis of the CAMP basalts. The Moroccan magmas evolved in mid-crustal reservoirs (7–20 km deep) where most of the differentiation occurred. However, a previous stage of crystallization probably occurred at even greater depths. The four units cannot be linked by closed-system fractional crystallization processes, but require distinct parental magmas and/or distinct crustal assimilation processes. EC-AFC modeling shows that limited crustal assimilation (maximum c.5–8% assimilation of e.g. Eburnean or Pan-African granites) could explain some, but not all the observed geochemical variations. Intermediate unit magmas are apparently the most contaminated and may have been derived from parental magmas similar to the Upper basalts (as attested by indistinguishable trace element contents in the augites analysed for these units). Chemical differences between Central High Atlas and Middle Atlas samples in the Intermediate unit could be explained by distinct crustal contaminants (lower crustal rocks or Pan-African granites for the former and Eburnean granites for the latter). The CAMP units in Morocco are likely derived from 5–10% melting of enriched peridotite sources. The differences observed in REE ratios for the four units are attributed to variations in both source mineralogy and melting degree. In particular, the Lower basalts require a garnet peridotite source, while the Upper basalts were probably formed from a shallower melting region straddling the garnet–spinel transition. Recurrent basalts instead are relatively shallow-level melts generated mainly from spinel peridotites. Sr–Nd–Pb–Os isotopic ratios in the CAMP units from Morocco are similar to those of other CAMP sub-provinces and suggest a significant enrichment of the mantle-source regions by subducted crustal components. The enriched signature is attributed to involvement of about 5–10% recycled crustal materials introduced into an ambient depleted or PREMA-type mantle, while involvement of mantle-plume components like those sampled by present-day Central Atlantic Ocean Island Basalts (OIB, e.g. Cape Verde and Canary Islands) is not supported by the observed compositions. Only Recurrent basalts may possibly reflect a Central Atlantic plume-like signature similar to the Common or FOZO components.

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