Globally distributed iridium layer preserved within the Chicxulub impact structure
- Author(s)
- , Steven Goderis, Honami Sato, Ludovic Ferrière, Birger Schmitz, David Burney, Pim Kaskes, Johan Vellekoop, Axel Wittmann, Toni Schulz, Stepan M. Chernonozhkin, Philippe Claeys, Sietze J. de Graaff, Thomas Déhais, Niels J. de Winter, Mikael Elfman, Jean-Guillaume Feignon, Akira Ishikawa, Christian Koeberl, Per Kristiansson, Clive R. Neal, Jeremy D. Owens, Martin Schmieder, Matthias Sinnesael, Frank Vanhaecke, Stijn J. M. Van Malderen, Timothy J. Bralower, Sean P.S. Gulick, David A. Kring, C.M. Lowery, Joanna V. Morgan, Jan Smit, Michael T. Whalen
- Abstract
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction is marked globally by elevated concentrations of iridium, emplaced by a hypervelocity impact event 66 million years ago. Here, we report new data from four independent laboratories that reveal a positive iridium anomaly within the peak ring sequence of the Chicxulub impact structure, in drill core recovered by IODP-ICDP Expedition 364. The peak in the abundance of ultra-fine meteoritic matter occurs in the post-impact sediments that cover the crater peak ring, just below earliest Danian pelagic limestone. Within years to decades after the impact event, this part of the impact basin returned to a low-energy depositional environment, recording in unprecedented detail the recovery of life after the impact. The iridium layer provides a key temporal horizon precisely linking the Chicxulub cratering processes to K-Pg boundary sections worldwide.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Lithospheric Research
- External organisation(s)
- Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHM), Ghent University , Pennsylvania State University, University of Padova, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Lund University, University of Notre Dame, Arizona State University, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Utrecht University, Florida State University, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Durham University, University of Texas, Austin, Imperial College London, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Volume
- 7
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe3647
- Publication date
- 01-2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105105 Geochemistry
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/e024724d-5396-47e4-abfc-8e02a3800e3d