End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction Event: Argument for Terrestrial Causation
- 27 November 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 238 (4831), 1237-1242
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.238.4831.1237
Abstract
The end-Cretaceous mass extinctions were not a geologically instantaneous event and were selective in character. These features are incompatible with the original Alvarez hypothesis of their being caused by a single asteroid impact that produced a world-embracing dust cloud with devastating environmental consequences. By analysis of physical and chemical evidence from the stratigraphic record it is shown that a modified extraterrestrial model in which stepwise extinctions resulted from encounter with a comet shower is less plausible than one intrinsic to the earth, involving significant disturbance in the mantle.Keywords
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