A Pronounced Spike in Ocean Productivity Triggered by the Chicxulub Impact

• Main Authors: Brugger, Julia, Feulner, Georg, Hofmann, Matthias, Petri, Stefan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley 2021
• Subjects: Biospherics; Carbon dioxide; Geology; FOS Earth and related environmental sciences; Sulfur compounds; Carbon isotopes; Chicxulub impact; Combined effect; Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary; Mass extinction events; Sulfate aerosols; Temperature decrease; Terrestrial biosphere; Oceanography; aerosol; algal bloom; carbon dioxide; carbon isotope; empirical analysis; mass extinction; ocean acidification; sulfate; Mexico [North America]; Asteroidea; 550; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.34657/7078; https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/8037

There is increasing evidence linking the mass-extinction event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary to an asteroid impact near Chicxulub, Mexico. Here we use model simulations to explore the combined effect of sulfate aerosols, carbon dioxide and dust from the impact on the oceans and the marine biosphere in the immediate aftermath of the impact. We find a strong temperature decrease, a brief algal bloom caused by nutrients from both the deep ocean and the projectile, and moderate surface ocean acidification. Comparing the modeled longer-term post-impact warming and changes in carbon isotopes with empirical evidence points to a substantial release of carbon from the terrestrial biosphere. Overall, our results shed light on the decades to centuries after the Chicxulub impact which are difficult to resolve with proxy data.