Ha Ha! The KT mass extinction boundary. KT (Cretaceous Tertiary) Boundary Layer exists...
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Transcript of Ha Ha! The KT mass extinction boundary. KT (Cretaceous Tertiary) Boundary Layer exists...
Ha Ha!
The KT mass extinction boundary
KT (Cretaceous Tertiary) Boundary
• Layer exists simultaneously world wide
• Layer marks the transition from the Mesozoic era to the Cenozoic
• Layer Marks the transition from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary
• Layer had 30-130 times the normal amount of the element Iridium
Alvarez impact hypothesis
Devastation Sequence
• Asteroid impacts Earth
• Ejecta is sent into atmosphere
• Material blocks sunlight for months to years
• Impact crater and fallout layer are the only evidence
Chicxulub
Chicxulub
• The crater is buried under the tip of the Yucatan peninsula
• Crater is 110 miles wide
• Crater is 65.5 millions years old
• Crater is named after the Mayan word for (Tail of the Devil)
Chicxulub Gravity Anomaly
Other Theories
• Deccan Traps
• Sea level Regression
• Multiple impacts
• Multiple events
The Deccan traps
Deccan Traps
• South West India
• Area 500,000sqkm
• 2000m thick
• May have lasted 30,000 years
Maastrichtian sea-level regression
• Reduction of continental shelf area
• Reefs and Plankton my have been seriously damaged
• Epeiric seas would have disappeared
Multiple Events
• Extinction was gradual and involved the loss of species and genera.
• Dinosaurs, air and marine reptiles were picked off by a combination of all these sequential events.
State of the art re-creation
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0aHXSmCstk