title: The Chicxulub asteroid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. schulte@geol.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.forename: Laia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alegret
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Arenillas
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Arz
authors.forename: Penny J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Bown
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Bralower
authors.forename: Gail L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Christeson
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Claeys
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cockell
authors.forename: Gareth S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: Tamara J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Goldin
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Grajales-Nishimura
authors.forename: Richard A F
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Grieve
authors.forename: Sean P S
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gulick
authors.forename: Kirk R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kiessling
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koeberl
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kring
authors.forename: Kenneth G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: MacLeod
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Melosh
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montanari
authors.forename: Joanna V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Clive R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Neal
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Nichols
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pierazzo
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ravizza
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rebolledo-Vieyra
authors.forename: Wolf Uwe
authors.initials: WU
authors.lastname: Reimold
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robin
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salge
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Speijer
authors.forename: Arthur R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sweet
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Urrutia-Fucugauchi
authors.forename: Vivi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vajda
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Whalen
authors.forename: Pi S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Willumsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D008800:Mexico; D018543:Minor Planets