title: Impact ejecta at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary.
abstract: Extraterrestrial impacts have left a substantial imprint on the climate and evolutionary history of Earth. A rapid carbon cycle perturbation and global warming event about 56 million years ago at the Paleocene-Eocene (P-E) boundary (the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) was accompanied by rapid expansions of mammals and terrestrial plants and extinctions of deep-sea benthic organisms. Here, we report the discovery of silicate glass spherules in a discrete stratigraphic layer from three marine P-E boundary sections on the Atlantic margin. Distinct characteristics identify the spherules as microtektites and microkrystites, indicating that an extraterrestrial impact occurred during the carbon isotope excursion at the P-E boundary.
authors.affiliation: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY 12180, USA. schall@rpi.edu.
authors.forename: Morgan F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Schaller
authors.affiliation: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY 12180, USA.
authors.forename: Megan K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.affiliation: Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY 12180, USA.
authors.forename: Miriam E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.affiliation: Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Kent
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D005075:Biological Evolution; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D002980:Climate; D018534:Earth, Planet; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005898:Glass; D057232:Global Warming; D010944:Plants; D017640:Silicates
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D017640:Silicates