Seasonal calibration of the end-cretaceous Chicxulub impact event

The 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.

Stratigraphy around the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in sediment cores from the Lord Howe Rise, Southwest Pacific

During Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 21, Cenozoic and latest Cretaceous sediments were recovered at Site 208 on the Lord Howe Rise, Southwest Pacific. We provide new biostratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data from Site 208 to constrain the stratigraphy around the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary and to determine the depth of the K-Pg boundary more precisely. Biostratigraphic data from calcareous nannofossils indicate a near-continuous succession of sediments from the mid-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) to lowermost Thanetian (Paleocene) at depths of 540−590 m below seafloor (mbsf). The biostratigraphic data suggest that the K-Pg boundary corresponds to a siliceous claystone at the base of an interval of silicified sediments (576.0−576.8 mbsf). Carbonate carbon isotopic composition (δ13Ccarb) reveals a negative shift across this interval, which is consistent with global patterns of δ13C across the K-Pg boundary. Osmium concentration and Os isotopic composition (187Os/188Os) can also be used to identify the K-Pg boundary interval, as it is marked by a peak in Os concentration and a drop in 187Os/188Os values to 0.12−0.15, both of which are the result of the Chicxulub impact event. Our 187Os/188Os data show trends similar to those of coeval global seawater with the lowest value of 0.12−0.16 in the siliceous claystone (576.8 mbsf). However, the concentration of Os is low (<80 pg g−1) in this sample, which suggests that this siliceous claystone was deposited around the K-Pg boundary but may not include the boundary itself. Although the sedimentary record across the K-Pg interval at Site 208 may not be completely continuous, it nevertheless captures a time interval that is close to the Chicxulub impact event.

Contribution of orbital forcing and Deccan volcanism to global climatic and biotic changes across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary at Zumaia, Spain

Untangling the timing of the environmental effects of Deccan volcanism with respect to the Chicxulub impact is instrumental to fully assessing the contributions of both to climate change over the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) interval. Despite recent improvements in radiometric age calibrations, the accuracy of age constraints and correlations is insufficient to resolve the exact mechanisms leading to environmental and climate change in the 1 m.y. across the KPB. We present new high-resolution planktic foraminiferal, geochemical, and geophysical data from the Zumaia section (Spain), calibrated to an updated orbitally tuned age model. We provide a revised chronology for the major carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) and planktic foraminiferal events and test temporal relationships with different models of the eruptive phases of the Deccan Traps. Our data show that the major CIEs near the KPB, i.e., the late Maastrichtian warming event (66.25–66.10 Ma) and the Dan-C2 event (65.8–65.7 Ma), are synchronous with the last and the first 405 k.y. eccentricity maximum of the Maastrichtian and the Danian, respectively, and that the minor Lower C29n event (65.48–65.41 Ma) is well constrained to a short eccentricity maximum. Conversely, we obtained evidence of abrupt environmental change likely related to Deccan volcanism at ca. 65.9 Ma, based on a bloom of opportunistic triserial guembelitriids (Chiloguembelitria). The orbital, isotopic, and paleobiological temporal relationships with Deccan volcanism established here provide new insights into the role of Deccan volcanism in climate and environmental change in the 1 m.y. across the KPB.

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

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.

Formation of the crater suevite sequence from the Chicxulub peak ring: A petrographic, geochemical, and sedimentological characterization

This study presents a new classification of a ∼100-m-thick crater suevite sequence in the recent International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)-International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 Hole M0077A drill core to better understand the formation of suevite on top of the Chicxulub peak ring. We provide an extensive data set for this succession that consists of whole-rock major and trace element compositional data (n = 212) and petrographic data supported by digital image analysis. The suevite sequence is subdivided into three units that are distinct in their petrography, geochemistry, and sedimentology, from base to top: the ∼5.6-m-thick non-graded suevite unit, the ∼89-m-thick graded suevite unit, and the ∼3.5-m-thick bedded suevite unit. All of these suevite units have isolated Cretaceous planktic foraminifera within their clastic groundmass, which suggests that marine processes were responsible for the deposition of the entire M0077A suevite sequence. The most likely scenario describes that the first ocean water that reached the northern peak ring region entered through a N-NE gap in the Chicxulub outer rim. We estimate that this ocean water arrived at Site M0077 within 30 minutes after the impact and was relatively poor in rock debris. This water caused intense quench fragmentation when it interacted with the underlying hot impact melt rock, and this resulted in the emplacement of the ∼5.6-m-thick hyaloclastite-like, non-graded suevite unit. In the following hours, the impact structure was flooded by an ocean resurge rich in rock debris, which caused the phreatomagmatic processes to stop and the ∼89-m-thick graded suevite unit to be deposited. We interpret that after the energy of the resurge slowly dissipated, oscillating seiche waves took over the sedimentary regime and formed the ∼3.5-m-thick bedded suevite unit. The final stages of the formation of the impactite sequence (estimated to be <20 years after impact) were dominated by resuspension and slow atmospheric settling, including the final deposition of Chicxulub impactor debris. Cumulatively, the Site M0077 suevite sequence from the Chicxulub impact site preserved a high-resolution record that provides an unprecedented window for unravelling the dynamics and timing of proximal marine cratering processes in the direct aftermath of a large impact event.