Massive underwater plateau near SolomonIslands is younger and its eruption was more protracted than previously thought oregonstateuniv sciencemagazine
, which is roughly the size of Alaska, was the cause of a global deposit of black shale throughout the world's oceans.
Ontong Java Plateau covers roughly 1% of Earth's surface. The plateau is a fragment of the Ontong Java Nui, a superplateau that broke apart shortly after its formation, creating Ontong Java, Manihiki Plateau and Hikurangi Plateau. "Understanding the timing of these volcanic eruptions is essential to establishing a link between the eruptions themselves and the formation of the black shales," Koppers said."Establishing this causality is important to understanding large changes in ocean chemistry, similar to what is happening today through climate change due to human activity."
Davidson then ran another set of dating experiments, applying the same analysis on another mineral phase of the original samples—a type of feldspar, or rock-forming mineral, called plagioclase. "All of the tests showed a high level of internal consistency in the ages measured and a remarkable reproducibility between multiple samples from the same volcanic eruptive units, providing us with a tremendous degree of confidence," Davidson said."These results mean we can't connect Ontong Java anymore to the anoxic event that led to the shale deposits. The dates no longer line up.
There is also a possibility that lower portions of Ontong Java are older, he said. The available samples from Ontong Java were drilled only into the top couple hundred meters of the plateau, whereas the plateau is a geologic megastructure up to 35 kilometers thick, with the top 8 to 9 kilometers considered the eruptive portion.Davidson hopes to continue the research by hunting down samples of older portions of the plateau and running new analyses using these modern techniques.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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