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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
Atmospheric PCO₂ perturbations associated with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province
Morgan F Schaller1, James D Wright, Dennis V Kent
1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. schaller@rci.rutgers.edu
Abstract:
The effects of a large igneous province on the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (PCO₂) are mostly unknown. In this study, we estimate PCO₂ from stable isotopic values of pedogenic carbonates interbedded with volcanics of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) in the Newark Basin, eastern North America. We find pre-CAMP PCO₂ values of ~2000 parts per million (ppm), increasing to ~4400 ppm immediately after the first volcanic unit, followed by a steady decrease toward pre-eruptive levels over the subsequent 300 thousand years, a pattern that is repeated after the second and third flow units. We interpret each PCO₂ increase as a direct response to magmatic activity (primary outgassing or contact metamorphism). The systematic decreases in PCO₂ after each magmatic episode probably reflect consumption of atmospheric CO₂ by weathering of silicates, stimulated by fresh CAMP volcanics.
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