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Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) Boundary

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Astrobiology

Abstract

One of the “Big Five” mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic Eon occurred at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary (66.0 million years ago). The K–Pg mass extinction was triggered by a meteorite impact that produced a crater at Chicxulub on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. The following environmental perturbations might have been induced by the Chicxulub impact and acted as the killing mechanisms for the K–Pg mass extinction: (1) sunlight shielding, (2) sulfuric and nitric acid rain, (3) CO2-induced global warming, (4) ultraviolet penetration, and (5) toxic effects of ground-level ozone. The details of these perturbation events are summarized in this chapter. Based on evidence in sedimentary rocks, we could confirm whether such perturbation events occurred or not. However, it was difficult to reconstruct quantitatively the magnitudes and durations for such perturbation events because the necessary time-resolved information (yearly to millennium-scale) is lacking.

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  1. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Teruyuki Maruoka

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  1. Department of Applied Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Akihiko Yamagishi

  2. Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University Geosciences, Miyagi, Japan

    Takeshi Kakegawa

  3. Department of Solar System Sciences, Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

    Tomohiro Usui

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Maruoka, T. (2019). Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) Boundary. In: Yamagishi, A., Kakegawa, T., Usui, T. (eds) Astrobiology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3639-3_19

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