Book Review Mass Extinctions, Volcanism, and Impacts: New Developments: Geological Society of America Special Paper 544
(T. Adatte, D. P. G. Bond, and G. Keller) Reviewed by: Robert Anderson 2552 Humphrey Road, Loomis, CA 95650
Mass Extinctions, Volcanism, and Impacts: New Developments: Geological Society of America Special Paper 544 (Adatte et al., 2020), the second of two special papers on mass extinctions, volcanism, and impacts, contains nine chapters. (Note: This review was written without the benefit of having read the first special paper.) The majority of this collection is focused on interpreting models regarding the acidification of water and the impact on organisms that depended on carbonates to grow. The first chapter, Volcanism as a Prime Cause of Mass Extinctions: Retrospectives and Perspective, by Grzegorz Racki, provides the reader with a general starting point discussing changes in gasses and ash during a large igneous province placement episode. This chapter is an interesting basic discussion on the western view of volcanism over the last 2,000 years. It discusses the role of volcanism and tectonics and the role of select gasses and their concentration changes in the atmosphere. Also included are pH changes in seawater during large igneous province development. This chapter should be kept readily available for easy referral. Chapters 2 through 8 look at the interaction of mostly large igneous, but also large silicic, provinces with seawater and the atmosphere and their impact on select sea life. The stressors include sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, or sulfates, each affecting the lowering or raising of temperature on a global scale. In addition,
a lowering in pH of seawaters may have led to the decrease of available carbonate, which may have led to the extinction of organisms that used carbonate in the building of their shells. The last chapter discusses factors influenced by the Chicxulub impact that occurred during the Deccan Traps extrusions. This chapter points out that life was under duress by changes in temperature, a lowering of pH of seawater, and available light, as well as degassed compounds from the Deccan Traps. This indicated that certain marine organisms were already going extinct by the time of the impact. Additional stressing of the biosphere by changes in ambient light and temperature change, as well as a spike in the amount of gasses, ash, and soot, helped push additional species into extinction; however, the chapter does not cover the impact on terrestrial organisms. Overall, the book is decidedly interesting and gives some insight into effects of large-scale changes to the atmosphere that we see on a smaller scale from single large eruptions. It may also help us assess potential hazards from atmospheric pollution from large-scale releases of gasses from industry. The book lists at $42.00 for GSA members; nonmember price is $60.00. Adatte, T.; Bond, D. P. G.; and Keller, G. (Editors), 2020, Mass Extinctions, Volcanism, and Impacts: New Developments: Special Paper 544, Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO, 245 p.
Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3, August 2022, p. 333
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