The weathering-modified iridium record of a new Cretaceous-Palaeogene site at Lechówka near Chelm, SE Poland, and its palaeobiologic implications
- Author(s)
- G Racki, Marcin Machalski, Christian Koeberl, Marian Harasimiuk
- Abstract
In the light of integrated biostratigraphic and geochemical data, a complete shallow-marine succession across the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary, with the critical boundary clay coupled with a burrowed siliceous chalk ("opoka" in Polish geological literature), possibly equivalent of the basal Danian Cerithium Limestone in Denmark, has been discovered at Lechówka near Chelm, SE Poland. An extraterrestrial signature marking the K-Pg boundary is confirmed by anomalously high amounts of iridium (up to 9.8 ppb) and other siderophile elements (especially Au and Ni), as well as by an elevated Ir/Au ratio consistent with a chondrite meteoritic composition. The major positive iridium spike surprisingly occurs in Maastrichtian marls, 10 cm below the boundary clay interval, which can be explained by diagenetic mobilisation and re-concentration of the impact-derived components. Thus, intensively infiltrating, humic acid-rich ground waters during the long-lasting Palaeogene weathering in tropical humid regimes were probably responsible not only for the large-scale decalcification of the Lechówka section, but also for both downward displaced position of the iridium enrichment, a dispersed profile of this anomaly and its significantly lessened value, but still approaching an increase by a factor of 100. This modified record of the K-Pg boundary event points to a careful reconsideration of the iridium anomaly as a trustworthy marker for studying the extinction patterns across the K-Pg boundary, as supported by the recent data from New Jersey, USA.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Lithospheric Research
- External organisation(s)
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Marie Curie-Sklodowska University
- Journal
- Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
- Volume
- 56
- Pages
- 205-215
- No. of pages
- 11
- ISSN
- 0567-7920
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.4202/app.2010.0062
- Publication date
- 2011
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105101 General geology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/dc89f6ee-1360-4f55-9669-6c9d3b75bce1