Implications of the infra- and inter-trappean biota from the Deccan, India, for the role of volcanism in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary extinctions

Prasad, G. V. R.; Khajuria, C. K.

doi:10.1144/gsjgs.152.2.0289

Cited by 38 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Previous paleontological studies suggested that the latest CretaceousPaleocene Indian fauna and flora which survived extensive volcanic activities was almost completely replaced by the diverse and relatively advanced biota of tropical Asia upon the India-Asia collision (see, e.g., Briggs 1987, pp. 123-137;Prasad and Khajuria 1995). The present study may thus provide the rare corroborative evidence to support a hypothesis that India or smaller continental blocks could serve as a cradles to convey Gondwanian freshwater faunas.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Molecular Phylogeny of Osteoglossoids: A New Model for Gondwanian Origin and Plate Tectonic Transportation of the Asian Arowana

Kumazawa

Nishida²

2000

Molecular Biology and Evolution

103

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One of the traditional enigmas in freshwater zoogeography has been the evolutionary origin of Scleropages formosus inhabiting Southeast Asia (the Asian arowana), which is a species threatened with extinction among the highly freshwater-adapted fishes from the order Osteoglossiformes. Dispersalists have hypothesized that it originated from the recent (the Miocene or later) transmarine dispersal of morphologically quite similar Australasian arowanas across Wallace's Line, but this hypothesis has been questioned due to their remarkable adaptation to freshwater. We determined the complete nucleotide sequences of two mitochondrial protein genes from 12 osteoglossiform species, including all members of the suborder Osteoglossoidei, with which robust molecular phylogeny was constructed and divergence times were estimated. In agreement with previous morphology-based phylogenetic studies, our molecular phylogeny suggested that the osteoglossiforms diverged from a basal position of the teleostean lineage, that heterotidines (the Nile arowana and the pirarucu) form a sister group of osteoglossines (arowanas in South America, Australasia, and Southeast Asia), and that the Asian arowana is more closely related to Australasian arowanas than to South American ones. However, molecular distances between the Asian and Australasian arowanas were much larger than expected from the fact that they are classified within the same genus. By using the molecular clock of bony fishes, tested for its good performance for rather deep divergences and calibrated using some reasonable assumptions, the divergence between the Asian and Australasian arowanas was estimated to date back to the early Cretaceous. Based on the molecular and geological evidence, we propose a new model whereby the Asian arowana vicariantly diverged from the Australasian arowanas in the eastern margin of Gondwanaland and migrated into Eurasia on the Indian subcontinent or smaller continental blocks. This study also implicates the relatively long absence of osteoglossiform fossil records from the Mesozoic.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Molecular Phylogeny of Osteoglossoids: A New Model for Gondwanian Origin and Plate Tectonic Transportation of the Asian Arowana

Kumazawa

Nishida²

2000

Molecular Biology and Evolution

103

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“…Ash fall-out would not only have been devastating to the existing flora and fauna within the fall-out zone, but injection of this ash into the higher levels of the atmosphere could have had a potentially damaging influence upon late Cretaceous climates. However, such links with global palaeoenvironmental disaster should be treated with caution because studies of infra-and intertrappean biota (Prasad & Khajuria 1995) indicate the eruptions had little immediate effect upon floral and faunal diversity. Furthermore, palynological investigation of intertrappean boles from the British Tertiary Igneous Province by Jolley (1997) demonstrate that significant floral recolonization and environmental regeneration occurred between major eruptive events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When exposed in Ghats sections and road cuttings, boles can provide detailed profiles through the ancient weathering front and into the basalts beneath. Within the Deccan lava sequence there are also examples of laterally equivalent, presumably contemporaneous, fossiliferous lacustrine and fluviolacustrine deposits (Prasad & Khajuria 1995) which, when considered with the boles, indicate that a highly complex palaeoenvironment existed between the major eruptive events.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

The geochemistry of Indian bole horizons: palaeoenvironmental implications of Deccan intravolcanic palaeosurfaces

Widdowson¹,

Walsh

Subbarao

1997

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Deccan intravolcanic bole horizons represent weathering products formed during major hiatuses of a major volcanic episode. In these quiescent periods weathering processes pervasively altered the newly formed volcanic landscape and subsequent flows covered and effectively fossilized the resulting weathered palaeosurfaces. The current work is a detailed geochemical study which examines patterns of element mobilization during these intravolcanic weathering events.The bole horizons normally rest on top of altered basaltic lavas. Both boles and altered lavas represent a comparatively early stage in weathering because the content of chemically residual elements, such as aluminium and iron, are closer to fresh basalt than laterite. Nevertheless, there is clear evidence for significant chemical alteration because the more mobile elements such as calcium and sodium have been substantially removed. A chemically distinctive nature for some boles can be demonstrated from chondrite normalized REE plots and, in these instances, strontium and neodymium isotopic compositions demonstrate that the fine-grained bole material is derived from a chemically distinct source. In addition, thin sections reveal that these fine grained portions commonly contains glass shards and occasionally fresh phenocrysts. It is therefore suggested that many Deccan boles are in fact weathered pyroclastic material, and that the pyroclastic content of the basaltic succession may be greater than previously supposed. A significant pyroclastic input during the Deccan eruptions has important palaeoenvironmental implications for the fate of late Cretaceous flora and fauna in peninsular India.

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“…In addition, Tredoux et al (1989) have suggested that the Ir anomaly at the K/T boundary could be derived from mantle material. Detailed work has been carried out on the K/T boundary in India (Rocchia et al 1988;Pandey 1990;Raju et al 1991;Sakar et al 1992;Bhandari 1991Bhandari , 1993aBhandari , b, 1994Prasad and Khajuria 1995). A marked Ir anomaly was found in only one section (the Um Sohryngkew River section) and doubt was expressed as to whether the Deccan volcanism could have supplied the Ir found in the marine K/T sections (Bhandari et al 1993a, b).…”

Section: Development Of the Ir Anomalymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple factors in the origin of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary: the role of environmental stress and Deccan Trap volcanism

Glasby

Kunzendorf²

1996

Geol Rundsch

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A review of the scenarios for the Cretaceous/ Tertiary (K/T) boundary event is presented and a coherent hypothesis for the origin of the event is formulated. Many scientists now accept that the event was caused by a meteorite impact at Chicxulub in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Our investigations show that the oceans were already stressed by the end of the Late Cretaceous as a result of the long-term drop in atmospheric CO2, the long-term drop in sea level and the frequent development of oceanic anoxia. Extinction of some marine species was already occurring several million years prior to the K/T boundary. The biota were therefore susceptible to change. The eruption of the Deccan Traps, which began at 66.2 Ma, coincides with the K/T boundary events. It erupted huge quantities of H2SO4, HCl, CO2, dust and soot into the atmosphere and led to a significant drop in sea level and marked changes in ocean temperature. The result was a major reduction in oceanic productivity and the creation of an almost dead ocean. The volcanism lasted almost 0.7 m.y. Extinction of biological species was graded and appeared to correlate with the main eruptive events. Elements such as Ir were incorporated into the volcanic ash, possibly on soot particles. This horizon accumulated under anoxic conditions in local depressions and became the marker horizon for the K/T boundary. An oxidation front penetrated this horizon leading to the redistribution of elements. The eruption of the Deccan Traps is the largest volcanic event since the Permian-Triassic event at 245 Ma. It followed a period of 36 m.y. in which the earth's magnetic field failed to reverse. Instabilities in the mantle are thought to be responsible for this eruption and therefore for the K/T event. We therefore believe that the K/T event can be explained in terms of the effects of the Deccan volcanism on an already stressed biosphere. The meteorite impact at Chicxulub took place after the onset of Deccan volcanism. It probably played a regional, rather than global, role in the K/T extinction.

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Implications of the infra- and inter-trappean biota from the Deccan, India, for the role of volcanism in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary extinctions

Cited by 38 publications

References 26 publications

Molecular Phylogeny of Osteoglossoids: A New Model for Gondwanian Origin and Plate Tectonic Transportation of the Asian Arowana

Molecular Phylogeny of Osteoglossoids: A New Model for Gondwanian Origin and Plate Tectonic Transportation of the Asian Arowana

The geochemistry of Indian bole horizons: palaeoenvironmental implications of Deccan intravolcanic palaeosurfaces

Multiple factors in the origin of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary: the role of environmental stress and Deccan Trap volcanism

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