Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T08:10:36.570Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Large-body impact and extinction in the Phanerozoic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

David M. Raup
David M. Raup*
Affiliation:
Department of the Geological Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The kill curve for Phanerozoic marine species is used to investigate large-body impact as a cause of species extinction. Current estimates of Phanerozoic impact rates are combined with the kill curve to produce an impact-kill curve, which predicts extinction levels from crater diameter, on the working assumption that impacts are responsible for all “pulsed” extinctions. By definition, pulsed extinction includes the approximately 60% of Phanerozoic extinctions that occurred in short-lived events having extinction rates greater than 5%. The resulting impact-kill curve is credible, thus justifying more thorough testing of the impact-extinction hypothesis. Such testing is possible but requires an exhaustive analysis of radiometric dating of Phanerozoic impact events.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , Winter 1992, pp. 80 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Literature Cited

Alvarez, W., and Muller, R. A. 1984. Evidence from crater ages for periodic impacts on the earth. Nature (London) 308:718–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, L. W., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F., and Michel, H. V. 1980. Extraterrestrial causes for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. Science (Washington, D.C.) 208:1095–1108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bottomley, R., and York, D. 1988. Age measurements of the submarine Montagnais impact crater. Geophysical Research Letters 15:1409–1412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, C. R., and Morrison, D. 1989. Cosmic catastrophes. Plenum, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorter, J. D., Gostin, V. A., and Plummer, P. S. 1989. The enigmatic sub-surface Tookoonooka Complex in south-west Queensland: its impact, origin, and implications for hydrocarbon accumulations. Pp. 441–456In O'Neil, B. J., ed. The Cooper and Eromanga basins, Australia. Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Adelaide.Google Scholar
Grieve, R.A.F., and Robertson, P. B. 1987. Terrestrial impact structures. Geological Survey of Canada Map 1658A.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B., Armstrong, R. L., Cox, A. V., Craig, L. E., Smith, A. G., and Smith, D. G. 1989. A geologic time scale 1989. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hut, P., Alvarez, W., Elder, W. P., Hansen, T., Kauffman, E. G., Keller, G., Shoemaker, E. M., and Weissman, P. R. 1987. Comet showers as a cause of mass extinction. Nature (London) 239:118–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hut, P., Shoemaker, E. M., Alvarez, W., and Montanari, A. 1991. Astronomical mechanisms and geologic evidence for multiple impacts on earth. 22nd Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 18-22, 1991. Abstracts.Google Scholar
Jansa, L. F., and Pe-Piper, P. B. 1987. Identification of an underwater extraterrestrial impact crater. Nature (London) 327:612–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1979. Size of the Permo-Triassic bottleneck and its evolutionary implications. Science (Washington, D.C.) 206:217–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raup, D. M. 1990. Impact as a general cause of extinction: a feasibility test. Geological Society of America Special Paper 247:27–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1991a. Periodicity of extinction; a review. Pp. 193–208In Muller, D. W., McKenzie, J. A., and Weissert, H., eds. Controversies in modern geology. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1991b. A kill curve for Phanerozoic marine species. Paleobiology 17:37–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rickards, R. B. 1977. Patterns of evolution in the graptolites. Pp. 333–358In Hallam, A., ed. Patterns of evolution. Elsevier Scientific, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1989. Periodicity in extinction and the problem of catastrophism in the history of life. Journal of the Geological Society, London 146:7–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shoemaker, E. M. 1984. Large-body impacts through geologic time. Pp. 15–40In Holland, H. D. and Trendall, A. F., eds. Patterns of change in earth evolution. Springer, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, E. M., Shoemaker, C. S., and Wolfe, R. F. 1990. Asteroid and comet flux in the neighborhood of the earth. Geological Society of America Special Paper 247:155–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1984. Marine mass extinctions: a dominant role for temperatures. Pp. 69–117In Nitecki, M. H., ed. Extinctions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1990. Delayed recovery and the spacing of major extinctions. Paleobiology 16:401–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar