doi: 10.1073/pnas.1110601109. Epub 2011 Dec 29.
End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse
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- PMID:22207626
- PMCID: PMC3271934
- DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1110601109
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End-Cretaceous marine mass extinction not caused by productivity collapse
Laia Alegret et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A..
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Abstract
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.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Figures
Location map and changes in benthic foraminiferal diversity and infaunal morphogroups across the K/Pg boundary. Location of sections and drill sites discussed in the text. (A) Yellow circles indicate a decrease in food flux to the sea floor as estimated from benthic foraminiferal evidence, black circles an increase, and half black circles indicate no significant change. SeeSI Materials and Methods for construction of map. (B) Blue squares show the decrease in diversity from uppermost Maastrichtian (Cretaceous) to lowermost Danian (Paleogene) for locations shown inA, red triangles show the change in the percentage infaunal taxa, a productivity indicator; data sources are given inSI Materials and Methods .
Bulk (A) and benthic foraminiferal (B) carbon isotope records across the K/Pg boundary at sites in the Pacific, Southeast Atlantic, and Southern Ocean. See Fig. 1 for location.
BFAR (nr·cm-2·kyr-1), indicative of food supply to the sea floor, as compared to benthic (BF) and bulk carbon isotope records for sites in the Southeast Atlantic (A), Southern Ocean (B), and Pacific Ocean (C andD). See Fig. 1 for location.
Relative abundance of infaunal benthic foraminifera, indicative of food supply to the sea floor, as compared to benthic (BF) and bulk carbon isotope records for sites in the Southeast Atlantic (A), Southern Ocean (B), and Pacific Ocean (C andD). See Fig. 1 for location.
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