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