<p>The Deccan Traps super-eruption 66 million years ago dwarfed even the Toba eruption of 75 thousand years ago and, perhaps assisted by the Chicxulub impact, had a very damaging effect on marine life, where extinctions were just as high as on land. I doubt whether the beneficial aspects of a really large eruption, such as adding vital nutrients to the surface waters of the ocean, would outweigh the deleterious effects such as global cooling. There are a few super-volcanoes around the world waiting to erupt, one of them in Yellowstone National Park, but none are expected to erupt in the next few thousand years, and when Yellowstone does eventually blow it is highly unlikely to be as severe as the Deccan Traps eruptions and probably not as bad as Toba.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-09T19:41:13.570Z
Interesting! Do you have any reference to material/papers showing that the Deccan traps emplacement was followed/associated to a marine life extinction event?
Camilo Rada
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-09T21:47:48.507Z
There are three schools of thought: 1) The Deccan Traps did it all. 2) Chicxulub did it all 3) It was a combined effort/
Michael Walsby
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-20T01:09:03.787Z
@CamiloRada feels to me like the huge amounts of carbon dioxide emitted during the traps would end up mostly in the ocean, killing stuff
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-17T16:18:00.343Z
It is my understanding that the 3 main gases releases to change atmospheric content were methane, CO2 and SO2. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-02/aaft-tse021919.php Based on avg. temperature change, it would appear SO2 was largely the culprit for temperature change, NOT CO2?
J. Kaciulis
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-17T19:35:29.987Z
The effect of SO2 in the high atmosphere is to reflect solar radiation back into space, its effect in the lower atmosphere is to damage people's health, so SO2 has a cooling effect. A greenhouse gas which seldom gets a mention is water vapour.
Michael Walsby
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-08T13:22:02.020Z
2019-07-08T13:22:02.020Z
Michael Walsby
<p>There is large amounts of observations supporting the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate: A long term <a href="https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/how-volcanoes-influence-climate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">subtle warming effect due to <span class="math-container">$\small\mathsf{CO_2}$</span> and a short term, but more intense cooling effect due ash and sulfur gases</a>.
There is also much evidence supporting long and dramatic volcano triggered 
 cooling events dubbed "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">volcanic winters</a>", like the one after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1815 eruption of Mount Tambora</a>, or the <a href="http://Toba%20catastrophe%20theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Toba catastrophe</a> 74,000 years ago, perhaps lasting up to a decade.</p>

<p>For more recent volcanic eruptions, there is evidence of algae blooms produced by the input of nutrients from volcanic eruptions (<a href="https://www.clisap.de/clisap/about-us/news/volcanic-ash-causes-oceanic-algal-bloom-scientists-of-the-university-of-hamburg-document-iron-fertilization-by-volcanic-ash-2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/10/how-volcanoes-feed-plankton" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a>). Perhaps an expected outcome given that the ecosystems at the surface of the ocean are nutrient limited, therefore wasting most of the available energy due to the lack of iron, nitrogen and phosphorous mainly.</p>

<p>For all the above, I would be inclined to think that a large volcanic winter would encompass a period of prosperity for oceanic life. Where a small decrease in solar irradiation is more than compensated by a large increase in nutrients availability. However, I haven't hear of evidence of such oceanic boom.</p>

<p><strong>Are there observations suggesting or disproving such oceanic booms during volcanic winter events?</strong></p>

<p>PS: I started pondering this question while thinking about <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/how-ancient-humans-survived-global-volcanic-winter-massive-eruption" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a>, on which they found that a coastal community in South Africa didn't seem to have been affected by the Toba "catastrophe", but on the contrary, they seem to have benefited from it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-07T05:47:11.533Z
https://www.biogeosciences.net/10/3715/2013/bg-10-3715-2013.pdf
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-10T06:04:56.240Z
@CamiloRada i am not qualified to answer this question but you are and there is nothing wrong with answering your own question.all the information do show volcanoes can have a positive effect on life in the ocean,like this study https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257104971_Geochemical_evidence_of_oceanic_iron_fertilization_by_the_Kasatochi_volcanic_eruption_in_2008_and_the_potential_impacts_on_Pacific_sockeye_salmon
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-10T06:20:31.897Z
my point is if the nutrients  is there then life will grow,when spring comes volcanic or not.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-22T22:14:01.487Z
By volcanic winter, you mean when a volcano is dormant?
Eevee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-22T22:20:53.497Z
Nop, I mean a global drop of temperature due to volcanic activity. You can visit the corresponding wikipedia article to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter
Camilo Rada
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-20T01:14:06.617Z
https://www.google.ca/search?q=ocean+fertilisation+volcanic+events
Keith McClary
<oceanography><volcanology><climate-models><paleoclimatology><volcanic-eruption>
Would a volcanic winter trigger an oceanic "spring"?
Camilo Rada
# Would a volcanic winter trigger an oceanic "spring"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-03-19)

There is large amounts of observations supporting the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate: A long term [subtle warming effect due to $\small\mathsf{CO\_2}$ and a short term, but more intense cooling effect due ash and sulfur gases](https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/how-volcanoes-influence-climate).
There is also much evidence supporting long and dramatic volcano triggered
cooling events dubbed "[volcanic winters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter)", like the one after the [1815 eruption of Mount Tambora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora), or the [Toba catastrophe](http://Toba%20catastrophe%20theory) 74,000 years ago, perhaps lasting up to a decade.

For more recent volcanic eruptions, there is evidence of algae blooms produced by the input of nutrients from volcanic eruptions ([1](https://www.clisap.de/clisap/about-us/news/volcanic-ash-causes-oceanic-algal-bloom-scientists-of-the-university-of-hamburg-document-iron-fertilization-by-volcanic-ash-2/), [2](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/10/how-volcanoes-feed-plankton)). Perhaps an expected outcome given that the ecosystems at the surface of the ocean are nutrient limited, therefore wasting most of the available energy due to the lack of iron, nitrogen and phosphorous mainly.

For all the above, I would be inclined to think that a large volcanic winter would encompass a period of prosperity for oceanic life. Where a small decrease in solar irradiation is more than compensated by a large increase in nutrients availability. However, I haven't hear of evidence of such oceanic boom.

**Are there observations suggesting or disproving such oceanic booms during volcanic winter events?**

PS: I started pondering this question while thinking about [this article](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/how-ancient-humans-survived-global-volcanic-winter-massive-eruption), on which they found that a coastal community in South Africa didn't seem to have been affected by the Toba "catastrophe", but on the contrary, they seem to have benefited from it.

**Tags:** oceanography, volcanology, climate-models, paleoclimatology, volcanic-eruption

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: By volcanic winter, you mean when a volcano is dormant?  
> **username_0**: Nop, I mean a global drop of temperature due to volcanic activity. You can visit the corresponding wikipedia article to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter  
> **username_1**: https://www.biogeosciences.net/10/3715/2013/bg-10-3715-2013.pdf  
> **username_1**: @username_0 i am not qualified to answer this question but you are and there is nothing wrong with answering your own question.all the information do show volcanoes can have a positive effect on life in the ocean,like this study https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257104971_Geochemical_evidence_of_oceanic_iron_fertilization_by_the_Kasatochi_volcanic_eruption_in_2008_and_the_potential_impacts_on_Pacific_sockeye_salmon  
> **username_1**: my point is if the nutrients  is there then life will grow,when spring comes volcanic or not.  
> **username_3**: https://www.google.ca/search?q=ocean+fertilisation+volcanic+events  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-07-08. Score: 0

The Deccan Traps super-eruption 66 million years ago dwarfed even the Toba eruption of 75 thousand years ago and, perhaps assisted by the Chicxulub impact, had a very damaging effect on marine life, where extinctions were just as high as on land. I doubt whether the beneficial aspects of a really large eruption, such as adding vital nutrients to the surface waters of the ocean, would outweigh the deleterious effects such as global cooling. There are a few super-volcanoes around the world waiting to erupt, one of them in Yellowstone National Park, but none are expected to erupt in the next few thousand years, and when Yellowstone does eventually blow it is highly unlikely to be as severe as the Deccan Traps eruptions and probably not as bad as Toba.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Interesting! Do you have any reference to material/papers showing that the Deccan traps emplacement was followed/associated to a marine life extinction event?  
> **username_4**: There are three schools of thought: 1) The Deccan Traps did it all. 2) Chicxulub did it all 3) It was a combined effort/  
> **username_5**: @username_0 feels to me like the huge amounts of carbon dioxide emitted during the traps would end up mostly in the ocean, killing stuff  
> **username_6**: It is my understanding that the 3 main gases releases to change atmospheric content were methane, CO2 and SO2. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-02/aaft-tse021919.php Based on avg. temperature change, it would appear SO2 was largely the culprit for temperature change, NOT CO2?  
> **username_4**: The effect of SO2 in the high atmosphere is to reflect solar radiation back into space, its effect in the lower atmosphere is to damage people's health, so SO2 has a cooling effect. A greenhouse gas which seldom gets a mention is water vapour.  

---

