NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 19940023791: New Developments Regarding the KT Event and Other Catastrophes in Earth History

154 Pages·14.5 MB·English

by  NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

NASA-CR-195169 ///_/- _/_ " C-'_/#_'/
NEW OEVELOPMENTS N94-28294
EVENT AND OTHER --THRU--
EARTH HISTORY N94-28314
150 p Unclas
G3/46 0208810
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PAPERS PRESENTED TO
New Developments Regarding
the KT Event and Other Catastrophes
in Earth History
FEBRUARY 9-12, 1994 • HOUSTON, TEXAS

PAPERS PRESENTED TO
NEW DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING THE KT EVENT
AND OTHER CATASTROPHES IN EARTH HISTORY
February 9-12, 1994
Houston, Texas
Sponsored by
Lunar and Planetary Institute
University of Houston-Clear Lake
LP I _/ear L__'_
LPI Contribution No. 825
Compiled in 1994 by
LUNAR AND PLANETARY INSTITUTE
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Author A. B. (1994) Title of abstract. In New Developments Regarding the KT Event and Other Catastrophes in Earth
History. LPI Contribution No. 825, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. 138 pp.
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LPI Contribution No. 825 iii
Preface
This volume contains papers that have been accepted for presentation at
the conference on New Developments Regarding the KT Event and Other
Catastrophes in Earth History, February 9-12, 1994, in Houston, Texas. The
Program Committee consisted of W. Alvarez (University of California,
Berkeley), D. Black (Lunar and Planetary Institute), J. Bourgeois (National
Science Foundation), K. Burke (University of Houston), R. Ginsburg (Uni-
versity of Miami), G. Keller (Princeton University), C. Koeberl (University
of Vienna), J. Longoria (Florida International University), G. Ryder (Lunar
and Planetary Institute), V. Sharpton, convener (Lunar and Planetary
Institute), H. Sigurdsson (University of Rhode Island), R. Turco (University
of California, Los Angeles), and P. Ward (University of Washington).
The Scientific Organizing Committee consisted of W. Alvarez (University of
California, Berkeley), D. Black (Lunar and Planetary Institute), K. Burke
(University of Houston), R. Ginsburg (University of Miami), L. Hunt
(National Academy of Sciences), G. Keller (Princeton University), L. Marin
(UNAM, cd. Universitaria), D. Raup (University of Chicago), V. Sharpton
(Lunar and Planetary Institute), E. Shoemaker (U.S. Geological Survey,
Flagstaff), and G. Suarez (UNAM, cd. Universitaria).
Logistics and administrative and publications support were provided by
the Publications and Program Services Department staff at the Lunar and
Planetary Institute.

LPI Contribution No. 825 v
PI_,OBDINqG PAGE BLANK NOT leK.MED
Contents
Mineralogical Correlations of Near-KT-Boundary Deposits in Northeastern Mexico:
Evidence for Long-Term Deposition and Voicanoclastic Influence
T. Adatte, W. Stinnesbeck, and G. Keller ........................................................................................... 1
Trajectories of Ballistic Impact Ejecta on a Rotating Earth
W. Alvarez ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Developments in the KT Impact Theory Since Snowbird II
W. Alvarez, F. Asaro, P. Claeys, J. M. Grajales-N., A. Montanari, and J. Smit ............................... 3
Impact Materials Recovered by Research Core Drilling in the Manson Impact
Structure, Iowa
R. R. Anderson, B. J. Witzke, and J. B. Hartung ................................................................................ 5
Testing KT Extinction Hypotheses Using the Vertebrate Fossil Record
J. D. Archibald ................................................................................................................................... 6
Seymour Island: A Southern High-Latitude Record Across the KT Boundary
R. A. Askin, D. H. Elliot, S. R. Jacobson, F. T. Kyte, X. Li, and W. J. Zinsmeister ........................... 7
Stable Carbon Isotopic Evidence for Cretaceous Planktic Species Survivorship
and Reworking
E. Barrera and B. T. Huber ........................................
The KT Boundary Along the Brazos River, Falls County, Texas: Multidisciplinary
Stratigraphy and Depositional Environment
D. Beeson, S. Gartner, G. Keller, N. MacLeod, J. Medus, R. Rocchia,
and E. Robin ....................................................................................................................................... 9
KT Boundary in Deccan Intertrappeans: Chemical Anomalies and Their Implications
N. Bhandari, P. N. Shukla, Z. G. Ghevaria, and S. M. Sundaram ................................................... 10
Geochemical Constraints on the Composition of Volatiles Released During
the Formation of KT Impact Melts: Implications for Extinction Mechanisms
J. D. Blum and C. P. Chamberlain ............................................ 11
Debris Flow/Turbidite Clastic Units at the KT Boundary, Northeastern Mexico
B. F. Bohor and W. J. Betterton ....................................................................................................... 13
Axial Focusing of Impact Energy in the Earth's Interior: Proof-of-Principle Tests
of a New Hypothesis
M. B. Boslough, E. P. Chael, T. G. Trucano, M. E. Kipp, and D. A. Crawford .............................. 14
vi KT Event amd Other Catastrophes
Tsunami Deposits and the KT Boundary: A Sedimentologist's Perspective
J. Bourgeois ...................................................................................................................................... 16
New Evidence for Terrestrial Ecosystem Collapse at the KT and Permian/Triassic
Boundaries
H. Brinkhuis and H. Visscher ........................................................................................................... 17
Rift-flooding Episodes Around 65 Ma as Causes of Abrupt Sea-Level Falls: Did the
KT Impact Happen During a Time of Frequent Catastrophes?
K. Burke ..................................................... ,, 17
In Search of Nemesis
S. Carlson, T. Culler, R. A. Muller, M. Tetreault, and S. Perlmutter .............................................. 19
New Mineralogical and Chemical Constraints on the Nature of Target Rocks
at the Chicxulub Crater
E. CedilIo P., P. Claeys, J. M. Grajales-N., and W. Alvarez ................... ........................................ 20
Sulfur Isotope Study of High-Calcium Impact Glasses from the KT Boundary
M. Chaussidon, H. Sigurdsson, and N. Metrich ............................................................................... 21
Frasnian-Famennian Boundary: Mass Extinctions, Anoxic Oceans, Microtektite __
Layers, But Not Much Iridium?
P. Claeys, F. T. Kyte, and J.-G. Casier ............................................................................................ 22
The KT Boundary Extinction: A Geologically Instantaneous or Gradual Event?
Evidence from Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminifera
R. Coccioni and S. Galeotti .............................................................................................................. 24
The KT Boundary in the Southeastern Pyrenees, Ager Basin, Northeast Spain
(Lleida Province)
F. Colombo ....................................................................................................................................... 25
The Influence of Large Igneous Provinces on Mass Extinctions: Where Do We Stand?
V. Courtillot, J. J. Jaeger, and G. F_raud ........................................................................................ 27
Bone Beds at the Boundary: Are They a Realistic Expectation?
A. H. Cutler and A. K. Behrensmeyer .............................................................................................. 28
Impacts, Extinctions, Volcanism, Glaciations, and Tectonics: Matches and Mismatches
I. W. D. Dalziel .................................................................................................................................. 28
Sulfate Volatilization, Surface-Water Acidification, and Extinction at the KT Bounds5 _ .....
S. D' Hondt, H. Sigurdsson, A. Hanson, S. Carey, and M. Pilson .................................................... 29
LPI Contribution No. 825 vii
Biological Changes at the KT Stratotype of El Kef (Tunisia)
P. Donze, H. M_on, R. Rocchia, E. Robin, and L. Froget ............................................................... 30
Shallow Benthic Fauna: Their Extinction and Survival on the KT Boundary,
Adriatic Platform, Slovenia
K. Drobne, B. Ogorelec, W. Lowrie, and E. Marton ........................................................................ 31
The End-Permian Mass Extinction: A Complex, Multicausal Extinction
D. H. Erwin .......................................................................... ,..,......................................................... 33
New Evidence for Primary Fractionation of Ruthenium and Iridium in the Chicxulub
Ejecta Cloud
N. J. Evans, T. J. Ahrens, B. I. A. Mclnnes, and D. C. Gregoire ..................................................... 34
Habitat vs. Asteroid Fragmentation in Vertebrate Extinctions at the KT Boundary:
The Good, the Bad, and the Untested
D. E. Fastovsky and P. M. Sheehan ................................................................................................. 36
A 74.5-m.y. Stress Schedule and Its Reflection in the Stratigraphic Periods
A. G. Fischer and N. Kitz ................................................................................................................ 37
Biozonation of the Beloc Formation and Its Relation to the Chronology
of the KT Boundary Event
J.-M. Florentin, R. Maurrasse, and L. J. Geier ............................................................................... 38
Organic Matter Changes Across Nonmarine KT Boundary Sections
A. F. Gardner, I. P. Wright, and I. Gilmour .................................................................................... 38
Coccolithophore Extinction at the KT Boundary: Gradual or Abrupt
S. Gartner, J. AIcala, and E. Grossman ........................................................................................... 40
Preliminary Results Regarding the Formation Conditions of Meteoric Spinels
J. Gayraud, E. Robin, R. Rocchia, and L. Froget ............................................................................ 41
Diamonds, Soot, and Molecules: The Geochemistry of Carbon at the KT Boundary
I. Gilmour and W. S. Wolbach .......................................................................................................... 43
Results of Blind Tests to Resolve Controversies: Iridium at Gubbio; Extinctions
at E! Kef
R. N. Ginsburg, F. Asaro, M. Attrep Jr., J. I. Canudo, J. H. Crocket,
U. Kriihenbiihl, B. Masters, H. T. Millard Jr., R. K. Olsson, C. J. Orth,
X. Orue-etxebarria, L. R. Quintana, and R. Rocchia ....................................................................... 44
Science Observed: The Mass-Extinction Debates
W. Glen ............................................................................................................................................. 44
viii KT Event and Other Catastrophes
Biostratigraphic Evidence of the KT Boundary in the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain,
North of the Chicxulub Crater
D. Habib ........................................................................................................................................... 45
Elementary Carbon Associated with Volcanic Eruptions: Relevance for the
KT Boundary Problem
H. J. Hansen ..................................................................................................................................... 46
Cyclochronologic Approaches to KT Events
T. D. Herbert, A. G. Fischer, and S. L. D'Hondt ............................................................................. 47
Search for Extractable Fullerenes in Clays from the KT Boundary of the Woodside
Creek and Flaxboume River Sites, New Zealand
D. Heymann, W. S. Wolbach, L. P, F, Chibante, and R. E. Smalley ............................................... 47
The Chicxulub Crater and Its Relation to the KT Boundary Ejecta and
Impact-Wave Deposits
A. R. Hildebrand, F. Asaro, M. Attrep Jr., J. C. Bermtidez-Santana, S. Bonis,
E. Cedillo-Pardo, P. Claeys, V. Gonzalez-Casildo, J. M. Grajales-Nishimura,
D. C. Grdgoire, C. Ortiz-Aleman, M. Pilkington, M. A. S6nchez-Rios, J. Smit,
and J. A. Stansberry .......................................................................................................................... 49
Consequences of Impacts of Small Asteroids and Comets with Earth •
J. G. Hills .......................................................................................................................................... 50
Estimation of the Measures of the Chicxulub Cratering Event
K. A. Holsapple ................................................................................................................................. 50
Carbonate-derived Gases in Haitian KT Boundary Glass Spherules
R, M. Hough, H. Sigurdsson, I. A. Franchi, I. P. Wright, C. T. Pillinger,
and I. Gilrnour .................................................................................................................................. 53
Gaia, Cambrian Explosion, and KT Catastrophe
K. J. Hsii, G. Shields, and D. Hollander .......................................................................................... 54
Shock Degassing of Sedimentary Rocks Due to the Chicxulub Impact:
Hydrocode Simulation
B. A. lvanov, D. D. Badukov, and O. I. Yakovlev ............................................................................ 54
Eocene Age of the Kamensk Buried Crater of Russia
G. A. lzett, V. L. Masaitis, E. M. Shoemaker, G. B. Dalrymple,
and M. B. Steiner .............................................................................................................................. 55
Mass Extinctions: Persistent Problems and New Directions
D. Jablonski ...................................................................................................................................... 56