When The Atlantic Ripped Open A Supercontinent

Summary

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a chain of underwater volcanoes, marks the longest mountain range on Earth and played a pivotal role in the creation of the Atlantic Ocean. Originating from volcanic eruptions that split the supercontinent Pangea, these eruptions not only led to the formation of the ocean but also caused a global mass extinction event known as the End-Triassic Mass Extinction. The eruptions, particularly the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), spanned over 600,000 years and drastically altered Earth's climate, leading to acid rain, volcanic winters, and a significant rise in global temperatures. This event set the stage for the rise of dinosaurs, who benefited from the extinction of their competitors. The script also discusses the ongoing widening of the Atlantic and the eventual geological cycle预示着 the ocean's closure and the formation of a new supercontinent.

Takeaways

• 🌋 The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a chain of volcanoes under the Atlantic Ocean and part of the world's longest mountain range.
• 🧩 The Atlantic Ocean was formed by the splitting of the supercontinent Pangea around 200 million years ago.
• 🔥 The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) eruption was one of the largest volcanic events ever, covering an area the size of Canada with lava.
• 💀 This massive volcanic activity led to the End-Triassic Mass Extinction, which wiped out many species and reshaped life on Earth.
• 🌍 The eruption released sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, which caused acid rain, volcanic winters, and global warming, devastating the environment.
• 🌡️ Rising temperatures triggered wildfires, thawed methane clathrates, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, further intensifying global warming.
• 🐉 While many species went extinct, dinosaurs thrived, using protofeathers to survive volcanic winters, setting the stage for their domination.
• 🦴 Evidence linking the CAMP eruption to the mass extinction was confirmed in 2013 through precise uranium-lead dating of zircon crystals.
• 🌊 The Atlantic Ocean continues to grow due to seafloor spreading at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, but it may eventually close as part of the Wilson Cycle.
• ⏳ The oceanic plate near Spain and Portugal may be starting to subduct, which could mark the beginning of the Atlantic's closure millions of years from now.

Q & A

What is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and why is it significant?

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a chain of volcanoes stretching almost the entire north-south length of the globe, forming part of the longest mountain range on Earth. It is significant because it is where new seafloor is created, contributing to the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean.

What event led to the formation of the Atlantic Ocean?

The formation of the Atlantic Ocean began with the breaking apart of the supercontinent Pangea, driven by volcanic eruptions from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), around 201 million years ago.

What was Pangea, and how long did it exist?

Pangea was a supercontinent formed about 320 million years ago when most land masses merged. It existed for nearly 150 million years before breaking apart.

How did the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) contribute to a mass extinction?

CAMP's massive volcanic eruptions released sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and other gases, which caused acid rain, volcanic winter, global warming, and ocean acidification. These changes led to the end-Triassic mass extinction, affecting marine and terrestrial life.

What is basalt, and how does it relate to the CAMP eruptions?

Basalt is a fine-grained, dark volcanic rock formed from cooled lava. The CAMP eruptions produced large amounts of basalt, which can be found along the edges of the Atlantic today, evidence of the volcanic activity that helped split Pangea.

How did scientists link the CAMP eruptions to the end-Triassic mass extinction?

In 2013, scientists precisely dated the CAMP rocks using zircon crystals, revealing that the end-Triassic extinction occurred just 100,000 years after the CAMP eruptions began, suggesting a strong connection between the two events.

What impact did the CAMP eruptions have on Earth’s atmosphere and climate?

The CAMP eruptions released sulfur dioxide, causing acid rain and a volcanic winter. Later, the release of carbon dioxide triggered global warming, while methane from thawed clathrates may have accelerated the warming, leading to widespread wildfires and ocean acidification.

How did the end-Triassic extinction affect life in the oceans and on land?

In the oceans, the extinction wiped out nearly half of marine genera, including many coral species and ammonites. On land, it led to the extinction of many reptiles and amphibians, though dinosaurs fared well and went on to dominate in the Jurassic period.

What evidence suggests that the Atlantic Ocean is still expanding today?

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge continues to create new seafloor, causing the Atlantic Ocean to widen by a few centimeters each year, a process that has been ongoing since Pangea split apart.

What is the Wilson Cycle, and how does it relate to the future of the Atlantic Ocean?

The Wilson Cycle describes the lifecycle of oceans, including their opening and closing. While the Atlantic is currently in its seafloor spreading stage, some scientists believe subduction off the coast of Spain and Portugal may eventually lead to its closure, potentially forming a new supercontinent in hundreds of millions of years.

Outlines

00:00

🌋 The Formation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

This paragraph introduces the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the longest mountain range in the world, formed by a chain of volcanoes. It explains how the Atlantic Ocean didn't always exist and was created by the splitting of the supercontinent Pangea. This split, caused by the buildup of heat in the Earth's mantle beneath Pangea, ultimately led to the largest volcanic eruption on record, forming the Atlantic Ocean and triggering a global mass extinction event.

05:02

⏳ The End-Triassic Mass Extinction and Its Link to Volcanism

This section describes how scientists connected the massive volcanic eruptions of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) to the End-Triassic Mass Extinction. It details the chemical analysis of zircon crystals in basalt rock to confirm the eruption's timing and its catastrophic effects. The eruptions led to sulfur dioxide entering the atmosphere, causing acid rain, volcanic ash, and global cooling, followed by a warming trend from carbon dioxide. The environmental disasters caused significant loss of biodiversity, both in the ocean and on land.

10:11

📚 Study Hall Courses and Eontologists Recognition

The final section promotes the Study Hall channel, which offers online college courses in subjects like history, programming, and communication. It highlights the advantages of earning college credit without financial risk. Additionally, the paragraph features an acknowledgment of supporters on Patreon, with a trivia question related to fossils from the Ediacaran Period, inviting audience participation and interaction. It ends with bloopers and playful commentary from the creators.

Keywords

💡Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a continuous underwater mountain range that runs along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the longest mountain range in the world and is formed by plate tectonics. In the video, it is highlighted as the geological feature that resulted from volcanic activity, which played a pivotal role in the formation of the Atlantic Ocean and the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea.

💡Pangea

Pangea was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, approximately 335 to 175 million years ago. It formed as most of Earth's landmasses merged into one. The video discusses how Pangea's breakup led to the creation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

💡Volcanic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions are the explosive events that occur when molten rock, ash, and gases are expelled from a volcano onto the Earth's surface. The video emphasizes the role of volcanic eruptions in the formation of the Atlantic Ocean, particularly the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) eruptions.

💡Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP)

CAMP refers to a large igneous province that resulted from massive volcanic eruptions approximately 201 million years ago. The video explains that these eruptions were so extensive that they covered an area roughly the size of Canada and played a significant role in the breakup of Pangea.

💡Mantle

The mantle is the layer of the Earth between the crust and the core, and it is largely solid but can flow very slowly over geological time. The video mentions that heat built up in the mantle beneath Pangea, which led to the volcanic activity that eventually formed the Atlantic Ocean.

💡Convection cells

Convection cells are circulation patterns that occur in fluids, including the Earth's mantle, due to differences in temperature and density. The video suggests that convection cells may have contributed to the buildup of heat beneath Pangea, leading to the volcanic activity that created the Atlantic Ocean.

💡Basalt

Basalt is a common type of volcanic rock that forms from rapidly cooling lava. The video describes how the lava from the CAMP eruptions cooled into basalt, which can now be found around the edges of the Atlantic Ocean.

💡End-Triassic Mass Extinction

The End-Triassic Mass Extinction was a significant extinction event that occurred around 201 million years ago, resulting in the loss of a large number of species. The video connects this event to the CAMP eruptions, suggesting that the volcanic activity played a role in the extinction.

💡Zircon

Zircon is a mineral that can be used to date rocks because it contains uranium, which decays into lead at a known rate. The video explains how scientists used zircon crystals to date the CAMP eruptions and establish a link between the eruptions and the End-Triassic Mass Extinction.

💡Wilson Cycle

The Wilson Cycle is a model that describes the formation and destruction of ocean basins over geological time. The video mentions that the formation of the Atlantic Ocean is part of the Wilson Cycle, which also predicts how oceans will eventually close.

💡Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is a powerful ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Atlantic Ocean. The video notes that the Gulf Stream significantly influences Europe's climate, making it warmer than it would be otherwise.

Highlights

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain range in the world, created by a chain of underwater volcanoes.

The Atlantic Ocean was formed by the splitting of the supercontinent Pangea, which existed 320 million years ago.

The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) caused the largest volcanic eruption on Earth, leading to the Atlantic Ocean's formation.

The CAMP eruption played a significant role in the End-Triassic Mass Extinction, wiping out nearly half of marine species.

Geologists identified similarities between rock formations in Florida and Senegal, linking them to the same volcanic activity.

The CAMP eruption released enough lava to cover 10 million square kilometers, an area equivalent to the size of Canada.

Volcanic activity from CAMP emitted sulfur dioxide, causing acid rain and a volcanic winter that dramatically cooled the planet.

The eruption also doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, triggering a warming of more than 4°C, comparable to modern-day climate predictions.

Methane clathrates under the ocean were released due to warming, causing further greenhouse effects and contributing to the mass extinction.

The extinction event had a profound impact on biodiversity, with 96% of coral genera going extinct and massive loss of marine life.

Dinosaur species survived the Triassic extinction, aided by insulating protofeathers that helped them endure volcanic winters.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge continues to form new seafloor, slowly widening the Atlantic Ocean by a few centimeters each year.

Scientists believe the Atlantic Ocean could eventually close in a new subduction zone forming off the coast of Spain and Portugal.

The End-Triassic extinction was confirmed to align with the CAMP eruption through uranium-lead dating in zircon crystals.

The Atlantic Ocean’s formation has influenced global climate systems, such as the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe’s climate warmer.

Transcripts

At the bottom of the Atlantic  Ocean lies a chain of volcanoes,  

stretching almost the entire  north-south length of the globe.

It’s called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and it’s  part of the longest mountain range in the world.

And while the eruptions of these volcanoes  don't usually trouble us, their birth was once  

responsible for ripping a supercontinent apart and  creating the Atlantic Ocean that we know today.

Because, it didn’t always exist.

In our time, the Atlantic Ocean covers a fifth of  

the Earth’s surface and influences  the climate of the entire planet.

But before the Atlantic, there  was the supercontinent of Pangea.

Pangea formed when most of the  land masses merged around 320  

million years ago and lasted  for nearly 150 million years.

During this time, plants and  animals extended their ranges  

across regions now separated  by vast expanses of ocean.

But towards the end of its reign,  something big started brewing  

beneath the supercontinent’s surface.

Heat began to build up in the mantle  beneath Pangea – a concentration of  

heat that would go on to completely  change the course of life on Earth.

By some measures it produced the largest  volcanic eruption our planet has ever seen,  

splitting the supercontinent in  half and forming the Atlantic Ocean.

Oh, and it caused a global  mass extinction in the process.

The first sign of trouble came in the Middle  Triassic Period, 230 million years ago.

A rift in central Pangea began to form,  

stretching and pulling the continent  apart, forming faults in the crust.

This began to split what is  now Africa and North America.

It started slowly at first,  

growing over 30 million years until  it stretched for 5000 kilometers.

And all that time, heat kept building  up beneath the supercontinent.

Where the heat came from is  still a bit of a mystery.

It could have been a plume of  buoyant magma from the mantle below,  

but the morphology and the chemistry of the rock  left behind, doesn’t quite fit this explanation.

Or it could’ve been that convection cells formed  

at the edges of Pangea and funneled heat  inwards, concentrating it below the rift.

Or, like a chicken sitting on an  egg, the thick supercontinent might  

have essentially incubated the mantle beneath it.

Whatever the source, around 100  degrees Celsius of excess heat  

built up in the mantle beneath the supercontinent.

And then, all of a sudden, magma from this area  

burst through the faults 201 million  years ago and overwhelmed the rift.

This eruption was the Central Atlantic  Magmatic Province or CAMP for short.

It erupted in four major  pulses over 600,000 years.

And each of these were extremely  brief in geologic terms – only  

a few hundred or thousand years long.  But each would have been catastrophic.

In total, the CAMP spewed out enough lava  to cover over 10 million square kilometers!

That’s roughly the size of Canada.

In terms of how much of the  surface of the Earth was covered,  

that’s the biggest eruption we know of. Ever.

Most of this lava erupted in smooth  flows that creeped across the land,  

similar to what we see in Hawaii today.

And it was made up of melted tectonic plates  

that had subducted into the shallow  mantle long before Pangea had formed.

The lava cooled into a fine-grained dark  volcanic rock called basalt – and today  

it can be found all around  the edges of the Atlantic.

Scientists first started to  figure this out in the 1970s,  

when they noticed similarities between  rock formations in Florida and Senegal.

And those rocks were approximately  the same age as the Atlantic,  

leading to the idea this eruption caused  Pangea to break up and the ocean to open.

Since then, many more matching rock formations  have also been found in South America and Europe.

And in the 1990s geologists brought all these  

observations together and  the CAMP theory was born.

These massive eruptions affected more  than just the geology – a Canada-sized  

outpouring of lava is going to have a pretty  big impact on anything living at the time.

And scientists had long suspected that the CAMP  

eruption had something to do with  the End-Triassic Mass Extinction.

But for a long time, they couldn’t prove it.

Because, while both occurred right around 200  million years ago, it wasn’t until 2013 that  

they were able to figure out the age of the  CAMP rocks precisely enough to know for sure.

See, when the CAMP basalts cooled from  magma, crystals of the mineral zircon formed.

These crystals tend to incorporate uranium atoms  into their structure while pushing lead atoms out.

Over time, the isotope Uranium-238 decays into  Lead-206. And this happens very slowly – it  

takes about four and a half billion years for  half the Uranium-238 to make this transition.

So by counting the lead and uranium atoms in  a crystal, scientists can calculate how long  

it has been since that zircon cooled, along  with the rest of the CAMP rocks around it.

This revealed that the end-Triassic Extinction  started just 100,000 years after the CAMP  

magma began rising into the upper crust, making a  connection between the two events almost certain.

Which is maybe not surprising, because  the entire duration of the CAMP eruption  

would’ve been a brutal roller coaster  of conditions for life on Earth.

When all that magma emerged  through the rift across Pangea,  

it poured sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

In the lower part of the atmosphere, this reacted  to form acid rain which soaked into soils on land.

Higher up in the stratosphere, sulfur  aerosols formed. Along with volcanic ash,  

these reflected sunlight and  rapidly cooled the planet.

And the combination of acid rain and volcanic  winter was only the start of trouble for life.

Carbon dioxide came directly from the volcanoes,  

as well as from magma reacting with the  sedimentary rocks it flowed through.

This doubled carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,  

emitting roughly as much as  humans will by the year 2100.

The effects of the CO2 took longer to be felt, but  warmed the planet by more than 4 degrees Celsius.

A little bit of warming also could have triggered  

a runaway feedback loop by  thawing methane clathrates.

That’s ice under the seafloor that  contains methane gas within it.

This would have released  methane into the atmosphere,  

which is an even more potent  greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

With rising temperatures,  

wildfires tore across the continents,  causing chaos for life at the time.

And we can still see the remnants of these  fires preserved as charcoal in sediments.

Now, the oceans did absorb some of the  carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

But this caused the oceans to acidify  and coral reef ecosystems collapsed.

96% of coral genera went extinct.

And on top of the climate changes,  

the volcanoes emitted some nasty stuff  like halocarbons and mercury gas.

Halocarbons degraded the ozone  layer and exposed life to more  

ultraviolet radiation, causing mutations.

And mercury did the same thing  more directly. Of all the elements,  

it’s the one that most easily  causes potent damage to DNA.

We can actually see the effects of both of  these in fossilized fern spores from the time.

They had higher rates of  mutation than before or after.

So the end-Triassic extinction was pretty bad.

Overall, almost half of  marine genera went extinct.

All but one ammonite and up to a  third of bivalves were impacted.

And an entire class of eel-like  creatures called conodonts went extinct.

On land, the extinction was the final nail in  the coffin for many reptiles and amphibians,  

although some were already  declining by the Late Triassic.

For example plagiosaurs, a family of armored  flat-headed amphibians met their end,  

as did phytosaurs, reptiles that  looked deceptively like crocodiles,  

despite not being their direct ancestors.

But on the other hand, there  was one group of animals that  

fared pretty well through the end  of the Triassic: the dinosaurs.

Some of their traits helped them out, like  insulating structures called protofeathers,  

which helped warm them during the  sudden freezing of the volcanic winters.

And the end-Triassic extinction  cleared out much of their competition,  

setting the stage for their rise and domination  throughout the Jurassic and the Cretaceous.

So splitting Pangea caused a mass  extinction that altered the course  

of life on Earth, along with beginning  the opening of the central Atlantic.

Forming the entire ocean was a long  process, which continues to this day.

The CAMP eruption eventually became  the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. New seafloor  

forms at this ridge and slowly spreads outward.

Today, the Atlantic Ocean is still  widening by a few centimeters every year.

And this ocean has completely  changed how our planet works.

The Gulf Stream current makes Europe’s climate  

much warmer than would be  expected from its latitude.

And the North Atlantic is the only  location in the Northern Hemisphere  

where dense cold water sinks to the seafloor  and helps power global ocean circulation.

But it won’t be around forever.

The birth of the Atlantic was the first  part of a pattern called the Wilson Cycle,  

which also predicts how oceans close.

Today, the Atlantic is in its seafloor  spreading stage, the mid-life of an ocean.

But we might be just starting to see  the transition to the next stage.

Some scientists think that off  the coast of Spain and Portugal,  

the oceanic plate is starting  to subduct beneath Europe.

And while it will likely be a hundred million  years or more before the ocean closes,  

when it does, the cycle will end with the  creation of the Earth’s next supercontinent.

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Be sure to check out our episode, “When  Dinosaur Look-Alikes Ruled the Earth”  

to learn more about those croc-like animals  that flourished during the Triassic Period.

And we lava this month's Eontologists!

Jake Hart, Raphael Haase, Annie  & Eric Higgins, John Davison Ng,  

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And as always thanks for joining  me in the Adam Lowe studio.

Subscribe at youtube.com/eons  for ancient adventures.

These crystals tend to incorporate [Michelle's  nails click together] Uranium atoms ito their  

structure while pushing Lead atoms out.

[off-screen] There was an extra sound?

That was my nails! [laughs]

Yeah, it was just my nail SOS.

Ok...

Dickinsonia & Charnia.

Other acceptable answers are  Spriggina, Edicaria, and Kimberella.

Definitely should have remembered Kimberella.

Let us know if you got it right!

What is Kimberella?

But Dickinsonia is from the Ediacaran?