Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary Clays from Spain and New Zealand: Arsenic Anomaly and the Deccan Traps

Abstract

High arsenic (As) contents have been reported in numerous Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) clays worldwide including that from Spain (at Caravaca and Agost) and N. Zealand (at Woodside Creek). The Deccan Traps (India) enormous volcanism is one of the interpretations which have been offered to explain this anomaly. This report shows that the estimated surface densities of As in the boundary clays in Spain and New Zealand strongly contradict that anomalous As was sourced by this volcanic event.