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Abstract

Mass extinctions manifest in Earth's geologic record were turning points in biotic evolution. We present (40)Ar/(39)Ar data that establish synchrony between the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and associated mass extinctions with the Chicxulub bolide impact to within 32,000 years. Perturbation of the atmospheric carbon cycle at the boundary likely lasted less than 5000 years, exhibiting a recovery time scale two to three orders of magnitude shorter than that of the major ocean basins. Low-diversity mammalian fauna in the western Williston Basin persisted for as little as 20,000 years after the impact. The Chicxulub impact likely triggered a state shift of ecosystems already under near-critical stress.

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The Phanerozoic record of global sea-level change.

K. Miller (2005)

We review Phanerozoic sea-level changes [543 million years ago (Ma) to the present] on various time scales and present a new sea-level record for the past 100 million years (My). Long-term sea level peaked at 100 +/- 50 meters during the Cretaceous, implying that ocean-crust production rates were much lower than previously inferred. Sea level mirrors oxygen isotope variations, reflecting ice-volume change on the 10(4)- to 10(6)-year scale, but a link between oxygen isotope and sea level on the 10(7)-year scale must be due to temperature changes that we attribute to tectonically controlled carbon dioxide variations. Sea-level change has influenced phytoplankton evolution, ocean chemistry, and the loci of carbonate, organic carbon, and siliciclastic sediment burial. Over the past 100 My, sea-level changes reflect global climate evolution from a time of ephemeral Antarctic ice sheets (100 to 33 Ma), through a time of large ice sheets primarily in Antarctica (33 to 2.5 Ma), to a world with large Antarctic and large, variable Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (2.5 Ma to the present).

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Approaching a state shift in Earth's biosphere.

Anthony D. Barnosky, Elizabeth Hadly, Jordi Bascompte … (2012)

Localized ecological systems are known to shift abruptly and irreversibly from one state to another when they are forced across critical thresholds. Here we review evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole can react in the same way and is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence. The plausibility of a planetary-scale 'tipping point' highlights the need to improve biological forecasting by detecting early warning signs of critical transitions on global as well as local scales, and by detecting feedbacks that promote such transitions. It is also necessary to address root causes of how humans are forcing biological changes.

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The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.

Peter Z. Schulte, Laia Alegret, Ignacio Arenillas … (2010)

The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary approximately 65.5 million years ago marks one of the three largest mass extinctions in the past 500 million years. The extinction event coincided with a large asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, and occurred within the time of Deccan flood basalt volcanism in India. Here, we synthesize records of the global stratigraphy across this boundary to assess the proposed causes of the mass extinction. Notably, a single ejecta-rich deposit compositionally linked to the Chicxulub impact is globally distributed at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The temporal match between the ejecta layer and the onset of the extinctions and the agreement of ecological patterns in the fossil record with modeled environmental perturbations (for example, darkness and cooling) lead us to conclude that the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction.

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PubMed ID:: 23393261

DOI:: 10.1126/science.1230492

ScienceOpen disciplines: Chemistry

Keywords: Animals,Argon,Chronology as Topic,Ecosystem,Extinction, Biological,Geologic Sediments,Mammals,Mexico,Minor Planets,Radioisotopes,Radiometric Dating

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Chemistry

Keywords: Animals, Argon, Chronology as Topic, Ecosystem, Extinction, Biological, Geologic Sediments, Mammals, Mexico, Minor Planets, Radioisotopes, Radiometric Dating

Time scales of critical events around the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.

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A Sustainable Future

Most cited references 51

The Phanerozoic record of global sea-level change.

Approaching a state shift in Earth's biosphere.

The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.

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