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The case for extraterrestrial causes of extinction
1Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Summary
Meteorite impacts may cause extinctions, but proving it is hard due to fossil record gaps. Range truncation in fossil data distorts extinction timing, making it difficult to link impacts to specific extinction events.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Geology
- Earth Science
Background:
- Large-body impacts are increasingly recognized as potential drivers of mass extinctions.
- Establishing a direct causal link between impacts and extinctions is challenging due to limitations in paleontological data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of range truncation on the perceived timing of extinctions.
- To demonstrate how fossil data can be misinterpreted regarding extinction events.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of fossil collections, specifically Cretaceous ammonites from Zumaya, Spain.
- Experimental manipulation of biostratigraphic data to simulate range truncation effects.
Main Results:
- Range truncation, caused by sedimentation gaps, preservation issues, or discovery biases, can significantly distort the apparent timing of extinctions.
- Sudden extinctions may appear gradual, and gradual extinctions can seem abrupt due to these data artifacts.
- Stepwise extinction patterns can be erroneously inferred from truncated fossil ranges.
Conclusions:
- Fossil data, particularly biostratigraphic records, are subject to artifacts that complicate the accurate dating of extinction events.
- Accurate assessment of extinction timing requires new analytical methods to account for range truncation.
- Developing improved methods for analyzing biostratigraphic data is crucial for understanding the relationship between impacts and extinctions.
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