Publication Abstracts

Rampino 1987

Rampino, M.R., 1987: Impact cratering and flood basalt volcanism. Nature, 327, 468, doi:10.1038/327468a0.

Two contrasting causal mechanisms for the mass extinctions at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary at 66 Myr BP continue to be the subjects of intense debate: (1) a comet or asteroid impact (or several impacts during a comet shower), and (2) increased volcanic activity, as summarized recently by Officer et al. Evidence for a large-body impact is strong — a worldwide ejecta layer containing anomalous iridium, with microspherules and shocked minerals, coincides closely in time with the mass extinctions on land and in the sea. There are also several candidate K/T craters on the continents, although none so large (100 to 200 km in diameter) as suggested by the composition of the impact layer. On the other hand, recent study shows that the great Deccan flood basalts in India were erupted in a period of only 1-3 Myr, also coinciding with the K/T boundary, and with possible widespread environmental effects.

The seeming coincidence raises the question : could flood basalt eruptions and large-body impacts be causally related?

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ra07700z,
  author={Rampino, M. R.},
  title={Impact cratering and flood basalt volcanism},
  year={1987},
  journal={Nature},
  volume={327},
  pages={468},
  doi={10.1038/327468a0},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ra07700z
AU  - Rampino, M. R.
PY  - 1987
TI  - Impact cratering and flood basalt volcanism
JA  - Nature
JO  - Nature
VL  - 327
SP  - 468
DO  - 10.1038/327468a0
ER  -

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