Comment on “Atmospheric P co 2 Perturbations Associated with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province”

Abstract

Schaller et al. (Research Article, 18 March 2011, p. 1404) proposed that carbon dioxide (CO(2)) released by the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province eruptions over periods of about 20,000 years led to substantial increases of up to 2000 parts per million (ppm) in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (PCO(2)) near the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Use of an atmosphere-ocean model coupled to a carbon-cycle model predicts PCO(2) increases of less than 400 ppm from magmatic volatiles, with only a small climatic impact.