Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) were episodes of widespread marine anoxia during which large amounts of organic carbon were buried on the ocean floor under oxygen-deficient bottom waters, and OAE2 is the most widespread and best defined OAE of the mid-Cretaceous. It is found that that the marine osmium isotope record changes abruptly just at or before the onset of the OAE2 at two distant sites, and it is calculated that over 97 per cent of the total osmium content at both sites is magmatic in origin, indicative of a widespread magmatic pulse at the onset of OAE2.
- Steven C. Turgeon
- Robert A. Creaser
