Seminar by  Steve Grasby, Senior Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary.
 

ABSTRACT

The emissions from large igneous province eruptions (LIPs) in many ways mimic anthropogenic activity today. This is worrisome as LIPs are increasingly thought to have driven the most severe mass extinctions in Earth history. This idea though is fraught with uncertainty given the poor temporal control over timing of both the LIP events and the mass extinctions they are thought to cause.  This talk will discuss use of mercury as a ‘fingerprint’ of a LIP eruption in the sedimentary record as a tool to resolve the linkage between volcanic eruptions and the worst environmental crises in earth history.