High-precision dating of the Kalkarindji large igneous province, Australia, and synchrony with the Early-Middle Cambrian (Stage 4-5) extinction

The voluminous Kalkarindji flood basalts erupted in Australia during the Cambrian and covered >2 X 10 (super 6) km (super 2) . New U-Pb and (super 40) Ar/ (super 39) Ar age data from intrusive rocks and lava flows yielded statistically indistinguishable ages at ca. 511 Ma, suggesting a relatively brief emplacement for this province. A zircon age of 510.7 + or - 0.6 Ma shows that this province is temporally indistinguishable at the few-hundred-thousand-year level from the Early-Middle Cambrian (Stage 4-5) boundary age of 510 + or - 1 Ma, which marks the first severe extinction of the Phanerozoic and an extended marine anoxia period. Sulfur concentration measurements ranging from <50 to 1900 mu g/g, and fractal analysis of extensive explosive volcanic breccias, suggest that blasts and phreatomagmatic explosions have contributed to injection of large amounts of sulfur into the stratosphere. In addition, magma intrusions in oil, gas, and sulfate deposits may have generated significant emission of CH (sub 4) and SO (sub 2) which, along with volcanic gases, would have combined to cause an oscillation of the climate and led to the Cambrian extinction.