Plate tectonics controls global climate change by determining the frequency of major explosive, subduction-

related volcanic eruptions causing incremental global

cooling

the extent of subaerial, rift-related, effusive, flood basaltic lava flows causing sudden global warming,

ocean acidification, mass extinctions, and often the ends of geologic eons, eras, periods, etc.

versus

Peter L. WardU.S. Geological Survey retired

Science Is Never Settledpeward@Wyoming.com Jackson, Wyoming

WhyClimateChanges.com

This talk is available at https://youtu.be/0e1OIOZE-9E

1. Climate change is controlled primarily by sub-aerial volcanism

2. Frequent major explosive eruptions cause incremental GLOBAL cooling

3. Flood basaltic eruptions, on the other hand, cause sudden GLOBAL warming

4. Sudden major warming followed by slow cooling occurs as often as every1000 years in erratic sequences that are clearly not cyclic. Rate is surprising

5. Plate tectonics determines which type of volcanism is dominant at any time

6. These distinctive sequences of volcanism appear to provide another tool,much like magnetic anomalies, for interpreting the geologic record includingcross-correlation and dating

Key points

Aerosol forming

explosive eruptions

Occur in rift zonesDeplete ozone warming Earth GLOBALLY

many degrees within years

Occur above subduction zonesForm aerosols cooling Earth

GLOBALLY ~0.5oC for ~3 years

Aerially extensive

flood-basaltic eruptions

Climate effect is determined by number of eruptions per century

Climate effect is determined by duration and aerial extent

versus

Pinatubo 1991 Bárðarbunga 2014

Ocean temperature

Ocean crustproduction

Onset Antarcticglaciation

Izu-Bonin-Mariana, Aleutians, southern Rocky Mountains,

Sierra Madre Occidental

Himalayanmountainbuilding23-16 Ma

Mid-mioceneclimate

optimum

Cogné &Humler

2006

Major cooling when there is major subduction

VeizerEt al.1999

Ward2009

Major Pacific Plate

subduction

18Stack of 57 globally distributed deep sea δ O records18

125 100 75 50 25Thousand years before presentLisiecki et al. 2005

Erratic sequences of rapid warming followed by slower coolingDansgaard-Oeschger events observed in Greenland ice

FootprintsSudden warming

Slow coolingErratic sequences

Holocene temperatures and volcanism

Zielinskiet al.1996

Mayewski et al., 1995

Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2

WhiteEt al.1997

Basaltic volcanism ended the last ice age

12,000to

9500

12 of 13 best dated tuyaswere active

during this time

Bollingwarming

Peter S. Giles, 2012

Paleozoicbrachiopod

habitattemperatures

DeccanBasalts

SiberianBasalts

SiberianBasalts

CentralAtlantic

MagmaticProvince

DeccanBasalts

7,000,000 km2 11,000,000 km2 500,000 km2

96% marine70% terrestrial

vertebrates

Examples of flood basalts and large igneous provinces

Extrusion of basaltic magma reached a peak 56 million years ago

during the rifting of theGreenland-Norwegian Sea

Storey et al. 2007 Courtillot and Renne 2003Ages of effusive flood basalts

Ages

of m

ass e

xtin

ctio

ns

Typically end geologic eras,periods, and

epochs

Association with end of time unitsPaleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Siberian basaltsDeccan basalts

Ages of LIPs from Ernst 2014

PETM

CAMP

Ethiopia

Columbia

Madagascar

Kerguelen

Parana

Karoo

MackenzieUmkondo

Guibei

Kalkarindji

Kola-Dnieper

Geological Society of America Time Scale

Emeishan basalts

Uatuma

Snowball Earth

Katian?

Pleistocene

Jurassic ice age

Karoo

Hirnation

Only 104 ages since 540 Ma

17 largest out of >200 LIPS

The balance of effusive and explosive volcanism explains climate change in detail

Large Igneous Provinces punctuate the geologic time scale

peward@Wyoming.com

1. Climate change is controlled dominantly by sub-aerial volcanism

2. Frequent major explosive eruptions cause incremental GLOBAL cooling

3. Flood basaltic eruptions cause sudden GLOBAL warming

4. Sudden major warming and slow cooling occurs as often as every1000 years in erratic sequences that are clearly not cyclic

5. Plate tectonics determines which type of volcanism is dominant at any time

6. These distinctive sequences of volcanism appear to provide another tool,much like magnetic anomalies, for interpreting the geologic recordincluding cross-correlation and dating

Greenhouse gases simply do not absorb a broad enough range of

frequencies, known of as heat, to be a significant cause of global warming

LEDBroad

continuum of frequencies

Selected frequencies

Lessthan16%

A light bulb emits a broad range of

frequencies (heat) just to produce a narrow range of

visible light

LEDs emit a narrow range of visible

frequencies without emitting heat

Planck’s law (1900)

Frequencies absorbed by carbon dioxide

Greenhouse-warming theory appears to be mistaken