scholarly journals Seasonal calibration of the end-cretaceous Chicxulub impact event

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. DePalma ◽  
Anton A. Oleinik ◽  
Loren P. Gurche ◽  
David A. Burnham ◽  
Jeremy J. Klingler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Insect Behavior ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Growth Band ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Timing Data ◽  
Post Impact ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact triggered Earth’s last mass-extinction, extinguishing ~ 75% of species diversity and facilitating a global ecological shift to mammal-dominated biomes. Temporal details of the impact event on a fine scale (hour-to-day), important to understanding the early trajectory of mass-extinction, have largely eluded previous studies. This study employs histological and histo-isotopic analyses of fossil fish that were coeval with a unique impact-triggered mass-death assemblage from the Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) boundary in North Dakota (USA). Patterns of growth history, including periodicity of ẟ18O and ẟ13C and growth band morphology, plus corroborating data from fish ontogeny and seasonal insect behavior, reveal that the impact occurred during boreal Spring/Summer, shortly after the spawning season for fish and most continental taxa. The severity and taxonomic symmetry of response to global natural hazards are influenced by the season during which they occur, suggesting that post-impact perturbations could have exerted a selective force that was exacerbated by seasonal timing. Data from this study can also provide vital hindsight into patterns of extant biotic response to global-scale hazards that are relevant to both current and future biomes.

scholarly journals Globally distributed iridium layer preserved within the Chicxulub impact structure

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. eabe3647
Author(s):  
Steven Goderis ◽  
Honami Sato ◽  
Ludovic Ferrière ◽  
Birger Schmitz ◽  
David Burney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Hypervelocity Impact ◽  
Impact Structure ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Post Impact ◽  
Temporal Horizon ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Globally Distributed

The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction is marked globally by elevated concentrations of iridium, emplaced by a hypervelocity impact event 66 million years ago. Here, we report new data from four independent laboratories that reveal a positive iridium anomaly within the peak-ring sequence of the Chicxulub impact structure, in drill core recovered by IODP-ICDP Expedition 364. The highest concentration of ultrafine meteoritic matter occurs in the post-impact sediments that cover the crater peak ring, just below the lowermost Danian pelagic limestone. Within years to decades after the impact event, this part of the Chicxulub impact basin returned to a relatively low-energy depositional environment, recording in unprecedented detail the recovery of life during the succeeding millennia. The iridium layer provides a key temporal horizon precisely linking Chicxulub to K-Pg boundary sections worldwide.

scholarly journals The Boltysh impact structure: An early Danian impact event during recovery from the K-Pg mass extinction

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (25) ◽  
pp. eabe6530
Author(s):  
Annemarie E. Pickersgill ◽  
Darren F. Mark ◽  
Martin R. Lee ◽  
Simon P. Kelley ◽  
David W. Jolley
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Crater Lake ◽  
Temporal Association ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impact Events

Both the Chicxulub and Boltysh impact events are associated with the K-Pg boundary. While Chicxulub is firmly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, the temporal relationship of the ~24-km-diameter Boltysh impact to these events is uncertain, although it is thought to have occurred 2 to 5 ka before the mass extinction. Here, we conduct the first direct geochronological comparison of Boltysh to the K-Pg boundary. Our 40Ar/39Ar age of 65.39 ± 0.14/0.16 Ma shows that the impact occurred ~0.65 Ma after the mass extinction. At that time, the climate was recovering from the effects of the Chicxulub impact and Deccan trap flood volcanism. This age shows that Boltysh has a close temporal association with the Lower C29n hyperthermal recorded by global sediment archives and in the Boltysh crater lake sediments. The temporal coincidence raises the possibility that even a small impact event could disrupt recovery of the Earth system from catastrophic events.

The Kara astrobleme size, age and potential paleo-ecological effects of the impact event (European Arctic Zone, Russia)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Shumilova
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Ecological Effects ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Arctic Zone ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Future Possibility ◽  
Impact Melt ◽  
European Arctic ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Kara astrobleme is one of the biggest meteoritic craters which is set at the Baydarata Bay of the Kara sea (European Arctic Zone, Russia). It is a result of the catastrophic impact event occurred close to the K/Т extinction. The Kara astrobleme is the largest European crater at the modern erosion level.  At present it is estimated with the diameter from rim to rim about 65 km. While, some scientists have proposed its larger initial size – up to 120 km diameter, but no any well presented proof has been provided for the hypothesis. In 2015-2019 we have provided wide geological observations at the Kara crater and the near-set Ust`-Kara area (UKA) impactites. We have found for the first time that the UKA impactites, described in earlier Russian scientists publications as a synchronic independent crater of the same bolide, can be presented with bottom-flow impactites from the Kara crater (Shumilova et al., 2020). The found bottom-flow impactites abundant with belt-like impact melt bodies enriched in coesite and liquation structures similar to the Kara UHPHT vein and vein-like melt bodies with UHPHT impact glasses. Thus, they belong to UHPHT impactites. According to our air-bird view observations and impactites outcrops description at the UKA we support the hypothesis of the larger Kara crater getting 100-120 km in diameter of the initially originated size. Such giant meteorite event should be followed by catastrophic effects at the planet level, such as mass extinction. The present accepted Kara impact event age followed by the most recent measurements by <sup>40</sup>Ar-<sup>39</sup>Ar method is equal to 70.3 ± 2.2 Ma (Trieloff et al., 1998), that is a bit earlier than the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary (K/Т) mass extinction at 66 Ma. But, previously, Kara age has been proposed by 65.7 Ma as a probable K/T impact (Kolesnikov et al., 1988; Nazarov et al., 1992). According to different data, the Kara event age lies within the range from 60 to 81 Ma (Masaitis & Mashchak, 1982; Nazarov et al., 1989; Kolesniov et al., 1990; Koeberl et al., 1990). It is clear that the accuracy of the age measurements depend on the quality of the studied samples, including their crystallinity, velocity of impact melt cooling and alteration, and from the used type of a method. By the moment, we have found out “in situ” crystallized zircons within the just discovered real UHPHT impact melt glasses (Shumilova et al., 2018, 2020). The UHPHT glasses do not have any alteration, thus, they can be used for accurate age measurements. Taking a future possibility for more accurate age analysis in the nearest future we can propose a correct vision of the possibility of the giant Kara influence to K-T mass extinction or other ecological effects. In any case following to the giant size of the Kara event touched the sedimentary rocks abundant with black shales and carbonates, which should be a result of essential atmospheric changes. The study has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation project #17-17-01080.</p>

scholarly journals A seismically induced onshore surge deposit at the KPg boundary, North Dakota

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (17) ◽  
pp. 8190-8199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. DePalma ◽  
Jan Smit ◽  
David A. Burnham ◽  
Klaudia Kuiper ◽  
Phillip L. Manning ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Seismic Waves ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
River Channel ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Hell Creek Formation ◽  
Chicxulub Impact

The most immediate effects of the terminal-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact, essential to understanding the global-scale environmental and biotic collapses that mark the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, are poorly resolved despite extensive previous work. Here, we help to resolve this by describing a rapidly emplaced, high-energy onshore surge deposit from the terrestrial Hell Creek Formation in Montana. Associated ejecta and a cap of iridium-rich impactite reveal that its emplacement coincided with the Chicxulub event. Acipenseriform fish, densely packed in the deposit, contain ejecta spherules in their gills and were buried by an inland-directed surge that inundated a deeply incised river channel before accretion of the fine-grained impactite. Although this deposit displays all of the physical characteristics of a tsunami runup, the timing (<1 hour postimpact) is instead consistent with the arrival of strong seismic waves from the magnitude Mw∼10 to 11 earthquake generated by the Chicxulub impact, identifying a seismically coupled seiche inundation as the likely cause. Our findings present high-resolution chronology of the immediate aftereffects of the Chicxulub impact event in the Western Interior, and report an impact-triggered onshore mix of marine and terrestrial sedimentation—potentially a significant advancement for eventually resolving both the complex dynamics of debris ejection and the full nature and extent of biotic disruptions that took place in the first moments postimpact.

Deposition and age of Chicxulub impact spherules on Gorgonilla Island, Colombia

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 215-232
Author(s):  
Paula Mateo ◽  
Gerta Keller ◽  
Thierry Adatte ◽  
André M. Bitchong ◽  
Jorge E. Spangenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Variable Extent ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Radiolarian Biostratigraphy ◽  
Absolute Age ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Primary Impact

AbstractThe end-Cretaceous mass extinction (66 Ma) has long been associated with the Chicxulub impact on the Yucatan Peninsula. However, consensus on the age of this impact has remained controversial because of differing interpretations on the stratigraphic position of Chicxulub impact spherules relative to the mass extinction horizon. One side argues that the impact occurred precisely at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, thus coinciding with the mass extinction; the other side argues that the impact predated the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, based on the discovery of primary impact spherules deposits in NE Mexico and Texas near the base of planktic foraminiferal zone CF1, dated at 170 k.y. before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. A recent study of the most pristine Chicxulub impact spherules discovered on Gorgonilla Island, Colombia, suggested that they represent a primary impact deposit with an absolute age indistinguishable from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Here, we report on the Gorgonilla section with the main objective of evaluating the nature of deposition and age of the spherule-rich layer relative to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.The Gorgonilla section consists of light gray-yellow calcareous siliceous mudstones (pelagic deposits) alternating with dark olive-brown litharenites (turbidites). A 3-cm-thick dark olive-green spherule-rich layer overlies an erosional surface separating Maastrichtian and Danian sediments. This layer consists of a clast-supported, normally graded litharenite, with abundant Chicxulub impact glass spherules, lithics (mostly volcanic), and Maastrichtian as well as Danian microfossils, which transitions to a calcareous mudstone as particle size decreases. Mineralogical analysis shows that this layer is dominated by phyllosilicates, similar to the litharenites (turbidites) that characterize the section. Based on these results, the spherule-rich layer is interpreted as a reworked early Danian deposit associated with turbiditic currents. A major hiatus (&gt;250 k.y.) spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and the earliest Danian is recorded at the base of the spherule-rich layer, based on planktic foraminiferal and radiolarian biostratigraphy and carbon stable isotopes. Erosion across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary has been recorded worldwide and is generally attributed to rapid climate changes, enhanced bottom-water circulation during global cooling, sea-level fluctuations, and/or intensified tectonic activity. Chicxulub impact spherules are commonly reworked and redeposited into younger sediments overlying a Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary hiatus of variable extent in the Caribbean, Central America, and North Atlantic, while primary deposits are rare and only known from NE Mexico and Texas. Because of their reworked nature, Gorgonilla spherules provide no stratigraphic evidence from which the timing of the impact can be inferred.

Deccan Volcanism or the Chicxulub Impact: The Chicken or Egg Question

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerta Keller
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Impact Crater ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Deccan Volcanism ◽  
Asteroid Impact ◽  
Global Climate Warming ◽  
Chicxulub Impact Crater ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

&lt;p&gt;The Cretaceous&amp;#8211;Paleogene boundary (KTB or KPB) mass extinction is primarily known for the&lt;br&gt;demise of the dinosaurs, the Chicxulub impact, and the rancorous forty-year-old controversy&lt;br&gt;over the cause of this mass extinction. For the first 30 years, the controversy primarily revolved&lt;br&gt;around the age of the impact claimed as precisely KTB based on the assumption that it caused&lt;br&gt;the mass extinction. The iridium (Ir) anomaly at the KTB was claimed proof of the asteroid&lt;br&gt;impact, but no Ir was ever associated with impact evidence and recent findings reveal no&lt;br&gt;extraterrestrial component in PGEs or the KTB Ir anomaly. Impact melt rock glass spherules are&lt;br&gt;also claimed as indisputable evidence of the KTB age impact, but such spherule layers are&lt;br&gt;commonly reworked from the primary (oldest) layer in late Maastrichtian, KTB and Danian&lt;br&gt;sediments; thus only the oldest impact spherule layer documented near the base of zone CF1&lt;br&gt;~200 ky below the KTB can approximate the impact&amp;#8217;s age. Similarly, the impact breccia in the&lt;br&gt;Chicxulub impact crater predates the KTB. The best age derived from Ar/Ar dating of impact&lt;br&gt;glass spherules is within 200 ky of the KTB and thus no evidence for the KTB age. All evidence&lt;br&gt;strongly suggests the Chicxulub impact most likely predates the mass extinction ~ 200 ky and&lt;br&gt;played no role in it.&lt;br&gt;Deccan volcanism (LIP) was dismissed as potential cause or even contributor to the KTB mass&lt;br&gt;extinction despite the fact that all other mass extinctions are associated with Large Igneous&lt;br&gt;Province (LIP) volcanism but none with an asteroid impact. During the last decade, Deccan&lt;br&gt;volcanism gained credence based on a succession of discoveries: 1) the mass extinction in&lt;br&gt;between the longest Deccan lava flows across India; 2) high-precision dating of the entire&lt;br&gt;sequence of Deccan volcanism based on UPb zircon dating; 3) recognition of four distinct&lt;br&gt;eruption pulses all related to global climate warming with the largest pulse beginning 20 ky prior&lt;br&gt;to and ending at the KTB; 4) Identifying the climate link to Deccan volcanism based on age&lt;br&gt;dating and mercury from Deccan eruptions in marine sediments; and 5) Identifying the KTB&lt;br&gt;mass extinction directly related to the major Deccan eruption pulse, hyperthermal warming and&lt;br&gt;ocean acidification all linked to global mercury fallout from Deccan eruptions in marine&lt;br&gt;sediments. Despite this remarkable culmination of evidence, the controversy continues with&lt;br&gt;impact proponents arguing that Deccan volcanism didn&amp;#8217;t exist at the KTB &amp;#8211; the impact was the&lt;br&gt;sole cause.&lt;/p&gt;

Explosive interaction of impact melt and seawater following the Chicxulub impact event

Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon R. Osinski ◽  
Richard A.F. Grieve ◽  
Patrick J.A. Hill ◽  
Sarah L. Simpson ◽  
Charles Cockell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Impact Melt ◽  
The Past ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
Current Classification ◽  
Cenozoic Era ◽  
Geological Event ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of asteroids and comets with planetary surfaces is one of the most catastrophic, yet ubiquitous, geological processes in the solar system. The Chicxulub impact event, which has been linked to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction marking the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, is arguably the most significant singular geological event in the past 100 million years of Earth’s history. The Chicxulub impact occurred in a marine setting. How quickly the seawater re-entered the newly formed basin after the impact, and its effects of it on the cratering process, remain debated. Here, we show that the explosive interaction of seawater with impact melt led to molten fuel–coolant interaction (MFCI), analogous to what occurs during phreatomagmatic volcanic eruptions. This process fractured and dispersed the melt, which was subsequently deposited subaqueously to form a series of well-sorted deposits. These deposits bear little resemblance to the products of impacts in a continental setting and are not accounted for in current classification schemes for impactites. The similarities between these Chicxulub deposits and the Onaping Formation at the Sudbury impact structure, Canada, are striking, and suggest that MFCI and the production of volcaniclastic-like deposits is to be expected for large impacts in shallow marine settings.

Discovery of fish mortality horizon at the K-T Boundary on Seymour Island: Re-evaluation of events at the end of the Cretaceous

1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 556-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Zinsmeister
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Graphical Representation ◽  
Fish Bone ◽  
Fish Mortality ◽  
Range Data ◽  
Impact Event ◽  
Volcanic Event ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Bone Layer ◽  
Seymour Island

The discovery of a fish bone layer immediately overlying the K-T iridium anomaly on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, which may represent the first documented mass kill associated with the impact event, together with new faunal data across the boundary has provided new insight into events at the end of the Cretaceous. The utilization of a geographical approach and a new graphical representation of range data has revealed that events at the end of the Cretaceous were not instantaneous, but occurred over a finite period of time. Although the fish bone layer may contain victims of the impact event, the absence of ammonites in either the iridiumbearing layer or the overlying fish layer suggests that the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous was the culmination of several processes beginning in the late Campanian. The impact was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel's back,” leading to the extinction of many others forms of life that might have survived the period of global biotic stress during the waning stages of the Mesozoic if there had not been an impact. The absence of mass extinction following catastrophic geologic events in a biotic robust world, such as the Middle Ordovician Millbrig-Big Bentonite volcanic event suggests that the biosphere is remarkably resilient to major geologic catastrophes with mass extinction events occurring only when there is a conjunction of geologic events none of which might be capable of producing a global mass extinction by itself.

scholarly journals Bone histology of acipenseriform fishes reveals seasonality during the final years of the Mesozoic.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Smit ◽  
Melanie During ◽  
Camille Berruyer ◽  
Dennis Voeten ◽  
Paul Tafforeau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Yucatan Peninsula ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Bone Histology ◽  
Seasonal Timing ◽  
Boreal Spring ◽  
Biotic Diversity ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) mass extinction ~66 million years ago (Ma) was triggered by the Chicxulub impact on the present-day Yucatán Peninsula. This event caused the extinction of circa 76% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, and represents one of the most selective extinctions to date. The timing of the impact and its aftermath have mainly been studied on millennial timescales, leaving the season of the impact unconstrained. Here, we demonstrate that the impact that caused the KPg mass extinction took place during boreal spring. Osteohistology and stable isotope records of exceptionally preserved dermal and perichondrial bones in acipenseriform fishes from the Tanis impact-induced seiche deposits reveal annual cyclicity across the final years of the Cretaceous. These fishes ultimately perished in boreal spring. Annual life cycles, involving seasonal timing and duration of reproduction, feeding, hibernation, and aestivation, vary strongly across latest Cretaceous biotic diversity. We conclude that the timing of the Chicxulub impact in boreal spring significantly influenced selective biotic survival across the KPg boundary.

Severe perturbations of the marine biosphere following the Chicxulub impact

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Feulner ◽  
Julia Brugger ◽  
Matthias Hofmann ◽  
Stefan Petri
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Availability ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Sulfate Aerosols ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Chicxulub Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Marine Biosphere

&lt;p&gt;Among the &quot;big five&quot; mass-extinction events during the Phanerozoic, the end-Cretaceous extinction 66 million years ago is particularly well known because it marks the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. Evidence for the Chicxulub impact as the primary cause of this mass extinction has been accumulating over the past four decades, but there are still many open questions regarding the detailed course of events.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Building on our earlier modelling results demonstrating strong global cooling due to sulfate aerosols formed in the wake of the Chicxulub impact (Brugger, Feulner &amp; Petri 2017, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44:419-427), we here explore the response of the ocean in more detail. Specifically, we added a marine biogeochemistry module to a coupled atmosphere-ocean model to investigate the effects of the impact on ocean geochemistry and primary productivity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We find that the formation of stratospheric sulfate aerosols leads to a marked decrease in annual global mean surface air temperatures by at least 26&amp;#176;C in the coldest year after the impact, returning to pre-impact temperatures after about one century. The strong surface cooling induces vigorous ocean mixing that leads to changes in oxygen distributions and nutrient availability. Due to the darkness, marine net primary productivity essentially shuts down in the first years after the impact. Once the light returns, however, we find a significant increase in primary productivity caused by a surge in nutrient availability, both due to upwelling in the ocean and delivery by the impactor. These strong perturbations of the marine biosphere further support the notion that the impact played a decisive role in the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.&lt;/p&gt;

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