Using impact exsolution to link the Chicxulub collision and Deccan volcanism

Abstract

Observations suggest that impactors and volcanism are connected, but the mechanism that links these events is unknown. This research proposes the impact exsolution hypothesis to explain how planetary scale collisions trigger volcanism. This hypothesis says that when large objects such as asteroids or comets hit planets, they generate seismic waves that cause exsolution in magma, which initiates eruptions. Observations of the Chicxulub impact and Deccan volcanism support this hypothesis. These observations include changes in feeder dike orientations, changes in isotope geochemistry, and changes in lava flow dynamics following the Chicxulub impact.