The weathering-modified iridium record of a new Cretaceous-Palaeogene site at Lechówka near Chelm, SE Poland, and its palaeobiologic implications

Autor(en)

G Racki, Marcin Machalski, Christian Koeberl, Marian Harasimiuk

Abstrakt

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(en)

Department für Lithosphärenforschung

Externe Organisation(en)

Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), Marie Curie-Sklodowska University

Journal

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

Band

56

Seiten

205-215

Anzahl der Seiten

11

ISSN

0567-7920

DOI

https://doi.org/10.4202/app.2010.0062

Publikationsdatum

2011

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105101 Allgemeine Geologie

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 14 – Leben unter Wasser

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/dc89f6ee-1360-4f55-9669-6c9d3b75bce1