[dirtboy]

Dallas Abbott from Columbia University and her colleague Ann Isley from the State University of New York studied the timing of these 38 impacts and found that they correlate strongly with eruptions of "mantle-plume" volcanoes during the same period.

Considering, for example, that Hawaii and Iceland are hot-spot (or mantle-plume) volcanic zones, they erupt almost continually, so of course you'll be able to get a correlation with such features. And the impact at the end of the Cretateous down in Yucatan did not create a plume, and that was a biggie. Dittoes for the impact at the southern end of the Chesapeake - I don't see a Mt. Norfolk erupting down there.

It would be more impressive if the researchers were able to correlate major impacts with outbreaks of flood basalts. Now THOSE are truly nasty...

[Mike Darancette]

And the impact at the end of the Cretateous down in Yucatan did not create a plume,...

EXTRATERRESTRIAL INFLUENCES ON MANTLE PLUME ACTIVITY

Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume 205, Issues 1-2, 30 December 2002, Pages 53-62
by Dallas H. Abbott and Ann E. Isley

Abstract

We use time series analysis to compare the impact histories of the Earth and Moon with the record of mantle plume activity. We use events with errors in their ages of 150 Ma. The terrestrial and lunar impact records, when smoothed at a 45-Ma interval, correlate at a 97% confidence level. This high confidence level suggests that we have an adequate sampling of most of the major impact events on the Earth. We then test the idea that existing mantle plumes may be strengthened by impacts. When smoothed at a 45-Ma interval, strong plumes correlate with the terrestrial impact record at better than a 99% confidence level. No time lag is discernible between the data sets, which is expected given their present error level. When the time series are smoothed at a 30-Ma interval, there are 10 major peaks in impact activity. Nine out of ten of these peaks have a counterpart in either or both of the strong mantle plume or the mantle plume time series. As a result, the strong mantle plume and the impact time series correlate at the 97% confidence level. The mantle plume and the impact time series correlate at the 90% confidence level. Finally, the Deccan plume showed greatly increased activity immediately after the Chixculub impact. The results of our analysis suggest that large meteorite and cometary impacts may well increase the amount of volcanism from already active mantle plumes.

Also, I thought that Iceland was an area where the sea floor was spreading.