A Pronounced Spike in Ocean Productivity Triggered by the Chicxulub Impact

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 bio...

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Bibliographic Details
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
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 isotope
empirical analysis
mass extinction
ocean acidification
sulfate
Mexico [North America]
Asteroidea
550
Ocean acidification
Online Access:https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/8037
https://doi.org/10.34657/7078
Description
Summary: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. publishedVersion

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