Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage
Based on the intensity and rates of various kinds of intense ionizing radiation events such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, it is likely that the Earth has been subjected to one or extinction level events during the Phanerozoic. These induce changes in atmospheric chemistry so that the level of...
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ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.0809.0899 2023-05-15T18:23:12+02:00 Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage Melott, Adrian L. Thomas, Brian C. 2008 https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0809.0899 https://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0899 unknown arXiv arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ Astrophysics astro-ph Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Biological Physics physics.bio-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Physical sciences FOS Biological sciences article-journal Article ScholarlyArticle Text 2008 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0809.0899 2022-04-01T15:21:54Z Based on the intensity and rates of various kinds of intense ionizing radiation events such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, it is likely that the Earth has been subjected to one or extinction level events during the Phanerozoic. These induce changes in atmospheric chemistry so that the level of Solar ultraviolet-B radiation reaching the surface and near-surface waters may be doubled for up to a decade. This UVB level is known from experiment to be more than enough to kill off many kinds of organisms, particularly phytoplankton. It could easily induce a crash of the photosynthetic-based food chain in the oceans. Regularities in the latitudinal distribution of damage are apparent in simulations of the atmospheric changes. We previously proposed that the late Ordovician extinction is a plausible candidate for a contribution from an ionizing radiation event, based on environmental selectivity in trilobites. To test a null hypothesis based on this proposal, we confront latitudinal differential extinction rates predicted from the simulations with data from a published analysis of latitudinal gradients in the Ordovician extinction. The pattern of UVB damage always shows a strong maximum at some latitude, with substantially lower intensity to the north and south of this maximum. We find that the pattern of damage predicted from our simulations is consistent with the data assuming a burst approximately over the South Pole, and no further north than -75 degrees. We predict that any land mass (such as parts of north China, Laurentia, and New Guinea) which then lay north of the equator should be a refuge from UVB effects, and show a different pattern of extinction in the first strike of the end-Ordovician extinction, if induced by such a radiation event. : Accepted for publication in Paleobiology. 16 pages, 2 figures Text South pole DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) South Pole |
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Astrophysics astro-ph Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Biological Physics physics.bio-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Physical sciences FOS Biological sciences |
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Astrophysics astro-ph Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Biological Physics physics.bio-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Physical sciences FOS Biological sciences Melott, Adrian L. Thomas, Brian C. Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
topic_facet |
Astrophysics astro-ph Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Biological Physics physics.bio-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph Populations and Evolution q-bio.PE FOS Physical sciences FOS Biological sciences |
description |
Based on the intensity and rates of various kinds of intense ionizing radiation events such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, it is likely that the Earth has been subjected to one or extinction level events during the Phanerozoic. These induce changes in atmospheric chemistry so that the level of Solar ultraviolet-B radiation reaching the surface and near-surface waters may be doubled for up to a decade. This UVB level is known from experiment to be more than enough to kill off many kinds of organisms, particularly phytoplankton. It could easily induce a crash of the photosynthetic-based food chain in the oceans. Regularities in the latitudinal distribution of damage are apparent in simulations of the atmospheric changes. We previously proposed that the late Ordovician extinction is a plausible candidate for a contribution from an ionizing radiation event, based on environmental selectivity in trilobites. To test a null hypothesis based on this proposal, we confront latitudinal differential extinction rates predicted from the simulations with data from a published analysis of latitudinal gradients in the Ordovician extinction. The pattern of UVB damage always shows a strong maximum at some latitude, with substantially lower intensity to the north and south of this maximum. We find that the pattern of damage predicted from our simulations is consistent with the data assuming a burst approximately over the South Pole, and no further north than -75 degrees. We predict that any land mass (such as parts of north China, Laurentia, and New Guinea) which then lay north of the equator should be a refuge from UVB effects, and show a different pattern of extinction in the first strike of the end-Ordovician extinction, if induced by such a radiation event. : Accepted for publication in Paleobiology. 16 pages, 2 figures |
format |
Text |
author |
Melott, Adrian L. Thomas, Brian C. |
author_facet |
Melott, Adrian L. Thomas, Brian C. |
author_sort |
Melott, Adrian L. |
title |
Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
title_short |
Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
title_full |
Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
title_fullStr |
Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late Ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
title_sort |
late ordovician geographic patterns of extinction compared with simulations of astrophysical ionizing radiation damage |
publisher |
arXiv |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0809.0899 https://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0899 |
geographic |
South Pole |
geographic_facet |
South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_rights |
arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0809.0899 |
_version_ |
1766202735802187776 |