End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse
An asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous caused mass extinction, but extinction mechanisms are not well-understood. The collapse of sea surface to sea floor carbon isotope gradients has been interpreted as reflecting a global collapse of primary productivity (Strangelove Ocean) or export prod...
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Online Access: | http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60919 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110601109 |
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ftunivzaraaneto:oai:zaguan.unizar.es:60919 2023-05-15T17:51:07+02:00 End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse Alegret, L. Thomas, E. Lohmann, K.C. 2012 application/pdf http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60919 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110601109 eng eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/CGL2007-63724-BTE info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/CGL2009-07101-E http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60919 doi:10.1073/pnas.1110601109 by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ CC-BY info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2012 ftunivzaraaneto https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110601109 2022-03-10T16:34:20Z An asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous caused mass extinction, but extinction mechanisms are not well-understood. The collapse of sea surface to sea floor carbon isotope gradients has been interpreted as reflecting a global collapse of primary productivity (Strangelove Ocean) or export productivity (Living Ocean), which caused mass extinction higher in the marine food chain. Phytoplankton-dependent benthic foraminifera on the deep-sea floor, however, did not suffer significant extinction, suggesting that export productivity persisted at a level sufficient to support their populations. We compare benthic foraminiferal records with benthic and bulk stable carbon isotope records from the Pacific, Southeast Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. We conclude that end-Cretaceous decrease in export productivity was moderate, regional, and insufficient to explain marine mass extinction. A transient episode of surface ocean acidification may have been the main cause of extinction of calcifying plankton and ammonites, and recovery of productivity may have been as fast in the oceans as on land. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification Digital Repository of University of Zaragoza (ZAGUAN) Pacific Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 3 728 732 |
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Open Polar |
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Digital Repository of University of Zaragoza (ZAGUAN) |
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ftunivzaraaneto |
language |
English |
description |
An asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous caused mass extinction, but extinction mechanisms are not well-understood. The collapse of sea surface to sea floor carbon isotope gradients has been interpreted as reflecting a global collapse of primary productivity (Strangelove Ocean) or export productivity (Living Ocean), which caused mass extinction higher in the marine food chain. Phytoplankton-dependent benthic foraminifera on the deep-sea floor, however, did not suffer significant extinction, suggesting that export productivity persisted at a level sufficient to support their populations. We compare benthic foraminiferal records with benthic and bulk stable carbon isotope records from the Pacific, Southeast Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. We conclude that end-Cretaceous decrease in export productivity was moderate, regional, and insufficient to explain marine mass extinction. A transient episode of surface ocean acidification may have been the main cause of extinction of calcifying plankton and ammonites, and recovery of productivity may have been as fast in the oceans as on land. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alegret, L. Thomas, E. Lohmann, K.C. |
spellingShingle |
Alegret, L. Thomas, E. Lohmann, K.C. End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
author_facet |
Alegret, L. Thomas, E. Lohmann, K.C. |
author_sort |
Alegret, L. |
title |
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
title_short |
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
title_full |
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
title_fullStr |
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
title_full_unstemmed |
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
title_sort |
end-cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60919 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110601109 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/CGL2007-63724-BTE info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/CGL2009-07101-E http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60919 doi:10.1073/pnas.1110601109 |
op_rights |
by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110601109 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
109 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
728 |
op_container_end_page |
732 |
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1766158167091183616 |