OK, got to wondering (reading about the impact crater off yucatan that supposedly caused dinasaur extinctions) due to the counter-claims that it was actually vulcanism that did the dino’s in whether or not anyone has ever tried to prove whether or not the impacts set off the vulcanism? THere is a link here that some research is being done, but it seems to me that it would be possible to computer model some sort of scenario to prove the possibility of something like this.
I mean, set up a computer model based on the specifics of the planet at the given time (continental placement, etc) and see what results would happen under such an impact to the earth’s crust. Would the energy pass through like on a croquet ball or what?
Is this even possible? (the modeling I mean) If so why has no one done it? (I mean, heck, if they got computers modeling weather patterns SURELY someone could program such a thing).
What has the above linked research come up with?
Anyone?
Well, there’s the problem right there. We can do weather modeling because stations that measure what we need to know about the weather at any given point are cheap and fairly easy to set up. So there are lots of them all over the place, taking and logging measurements. Very easy to model from such a wealth of data.
Not so with the ancient earth. We know comparatively little about the specific geology of the past, only broad generalizations.
granted, but let me simplify it a bit, would it not be possible to model a simplified earth? Could you not model say a simple jelly filled ball with a solid core and a thin crust then wack it (virtually speaking) with a solid object of the speed, dimensions and possible angle of the meteor strike and see what sort of shockwaves are formed? If nothing else, you could prove that such a hit MIGHT create shockwaves in the right general direction of ‘x’ intensity. If it shows that such a thing is possible then you can go ahead and do ‘proper’ experimentation etc. I know that there are quite a few theoretical models of what the earth is like geologically, and quite a few of what it was like back then as well. Given the computing power at our disposal, it just seems it would be possible to run a bunch of simulations to get an answer good enough to guide proper research, rather than have all these people going about arguing w/each other.
Interest in this subject has been sparked by the observation that the Deccan Traps, in India, a vast outpouring of basalt, occurred at approximately the same time as the impact that created the Chicxulub crater off Yucatan, and which is supposed to have caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction. Even more remarkably, at the time of the collision, India and the Traps were almost directly opposite the position of the impact, as determined by reconstructions of continental positions based on plate tectonics.
While the cause of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, the biggest of all, has been very controversial, some researchers believe that it was also due to an impact. The possible impact site has been identified as being in southern Australia. Interestingly, the vast eruption that created the Siberian traps also happened about the same time, and at the time, Siberia was almost directly opposite southern Australia.
Because of this coincidence, a causal link has been suggested: that the impacts somehow triggered the huge volcanic eruptions on the other side of the world. However, to my knowledge, no plausible geologic mechanism has yet been proposed as to how exactly this would have happened.
To specifically answer the OP: existing geological models do not explain how an impact could have triggered volcanism.