Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Siberian Flood Basalt Province Doubled - West Siberian Basin ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Dates

During Permo-Triassic times basaltic volcanism occurred over a wide area in the region of the West Siberian Basin, Central Russia. A recently obtained date using the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method of 249.4 ± 0.5 Ma from plagioclase grains from deep bore holes in the basin indicate when the basalts were erupted. This date is synchronous with the bulk of the Siberian Traps that were erupted on the Siberian Platform further to the east. The basalts in the West Siberian Basin are confirmed to be part of the Siberian Traps by the age and geochemical data, which doubles the size of the volcanic province as a whole. The link between the volcanism and the mass extinction event at the close of the Permian is strengthened by the increased area of volcanism.

Sources & Further reading

1. Reichow, Marc K., Andrew D. Saunders, Rosalind V. White, Malcolm S. Pringle, Alexander I. Al'Mukhamedov, Alexander I. Medvedev, and Nikolay P. Kirda. "40ar/39ar Dates from the West Siberian Basin: Siberian Flood Basalt Province Doubled." Science 296, no. 5574 (June 7, 2002 2002): 1846-49.