Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Smoking Gun for Mass Extinctions Like PETM 56 Mya Identified: North Atlantic Pulsing Mantle Plumes
Does anybody remember those Lava Lamps from the 1960s and 1970s?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lamp
The underlying fluid mechanics phenomenon in these lava lamps is a form of Rayleigh–Taylor instability.
Well, it turns out that mantle plumes can act like lava lamps, and send up a bubble or pulse of lava which can penetrate the Earth's crust where it is very thin, and release huge amounts of CO2 and methane to the atmosphere and cause mass extinctions.
It is thought now that such a bubble from a mantle plume caused the mass extinction 56 million years ago by raising the global temperature from 5 to 8 degrees Celsius in a short period of time. This extinction is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) extinction.
This new research goes a long way to answering many questions about the location and mechanisms responsible, and this is very important since the PETM is one of the best analogs in deep time for what is happening today.
However, today, human GHG emissions are the mantle plume bubble, or the lava lamp bubble.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References and Links:
Article in Science: Surveys capture the pulsing of mantle plumes—a potential cause of mass extinctions: Seismic imaging and drilling cruises bolster a controversial explanation for ancient surges in warming: 27 May 202612:40 PM ET By Paul Voosen
science.org/content/article/surveys-capture-pulsing-mantle-plumes-potential-cause-mass-extinctions
Wikipedia article: PETM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene%E2%80%93Eocene_thermal_maximum
Wikipedia article: Geology of Iceland
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Iceland
Great image of Earth: Crust, Mantle, and Core
news.liverpool.ac.uk/2018/06/05/new-insight-into-earths-crust-mantle-and-outer-core-interactions
Seismic Survey basics:
google.com/search?q=seismic+survey+basics&oq=seismic+survey+basics&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCjEyNzIzajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBZzqS1kM5uhf&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Rockall Basin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall_Basin
European Geophysical Union (EGU) 2026 Conference presentation:
The IMPULSE experiment: New oceanic crustal record of thermal plume pulsing of Earth’s strongest mantle plume
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/EGU26-14092.html
Peer-reviewed scientific paper in AGU (American Geophysical Union) journal:
Geochemical Analysis of Diachronous V‐Shaped Ridges andTroughs That Flank the Reykjanes Ridge South of Iceland
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025GC012729
Plain Language Summary
Beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, immense amounts of hot material rise up beneath Iceland from deep within Earth's mantle, forming a gigantic pancake‐shaped upwelling. This upwelling, known as the Icelandic mantle plume, is the largest on Earth and plays a key role in determining the depth and shape of the North Atlantic Ocean over distances of thousands of kilometers. A pattern of distinctive V‐shaped ridges and troughs that are hundreds of kilometers long and tens of kilometers wide occur on the seabed south of Iceland. These V‐shaped ridges are thought by many scientists to have been generated by waxing and waning of the plume, but their exact origin is still hotly debated. Here, we analyze lava flows from these ridges and troughs that were drilled during three ambitious seagoing expeditions. Chemical differences between these flows can be used to estimate the temperature of the plume as it evolves. The story is a complicated one but it is probable that small temperature changes of 25–30°C are needed to explain our chemical observations. Our results have important implications for the history of ancient oceanic circulation which may be controlled by the fluctuating plume.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
Smoking Gun for Mass Extinctions Like PETM 56 Mya Identified: North Atlantic Pulsing Mantle Plumes
Does anybody remember those Lava Lamps from the 1960s and 1970s?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lamp
The underlying fluid mechanics phenomenon in these lava lamps is a form of Rayleigh–Taylor instability.
Well, it turns out that mantle plumes can act like lava lamps, and send up a bubble or pulse of lava which can penetrate the Earth's crust where it is very thin, and release huge amounts of CO2 and methane to the atmosphere and cause mass extinctions.
It is thought now that such a bubble from a mantle plume caused the mass extinction 56 million years ago by raising the global temperature from 5 to 8 degrees Celsius in a short period of time. This extinction is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) extinction.
This new research goes a long way to answering many questions about the location and mechanisms responsible, and this is very important since the PETM is one of the best analogs in deep time for what is happening today.
However, today, human GHG emissions are the mantle plume bubble, or the lava lamp bubble.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References and Links:
Article in Science: Surveys capture the pulsing of mantle plumes—a potential cause of mass extinctions: Seismic imaging and drilling cruises bolster a controversial explanation for ancient surges in warming: 27 May 202612:40 PM ET By Paul Voosen
science.org/content/article/surveys-capture-pulsing-mantle-plumes-potential-cause-mass-extinctions
Wikipedia article: PETM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene%E2%80%93Eocene_thermal_maximum
Wikipedia article: Geology of Iceland
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Iceland
Great image of Earth: Crust, Mantle, and Core
news.liverpool.ac.uk/2018/06/05/new-insight-into-earths-crust-mantle-and-outer-core-interactions
Seismic Survey basics:
google.com/search?q=seismic+survey+basics&oq=seismic+survey+basics&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCjEyNzIzajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBZzqS1kM5uhf&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Rockall Basin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall_Basin
European Geophysical Union (EGU) 2026 Conference presentation:
The IMPULSE experiment: New oceanic crustal record of thermal plume pulsing of Earth’s strongest mantle plume
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/EGU26-14092.html
Peer-reviewed scientific paper in AGU (American Geophysical Union) journal:
Geochemical Analysis of Diachronous V‐Shaped Ridges andTroughs That Flank the Reykjanes Ridge South of Iceland
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025GC012729
Plain Language Summary
Beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, immense amounts of hot material rise up beneath Iceland from deep within Earth's mantle, forming a gigantic pancake‐shaped upwelling. This upwelling, known as the Icelandic mantle plume, is the largest on Earth and plays a key role in determining the depth and shape of the North Atlantic Ocean over distances of thousands of kilometers. A pattern of distinctive V‐shaped ridges and troughs that are hundreds of kilometers long and tens of kilometers wide occur on the seabed south of Iceland. These V‐shaped ridges are thought by many scientists to have been generated by waxing and waning of the plume, but their exact origin is still hotly debated. Here, we analyze lava flows from these ridges and troughs that were drilled during three ambitious seagoing expeditions. Chemical differences between these flows can be used to estimate the temperature of the plume as it evolves. The story is a complicated one but it is probable that small temperature changes of 25–30°C are needed to explain our chemical observations. Our results have important implications for the history of ancient oceanic circulation which may be controlled by the fluctuating plume.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
