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Geology; June 2003; v. 31; no. 6; p. 489-492; DOI: 10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0489:ASATCI>2.0.CO;2
© 2003 Geological Society of America
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Acid-neutralizing scenario after the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact event

Teruyuki Maruoka*,1 and Christian Koeberl*,1

1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Acid rain from the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary impact event should have caused significant damage to freshwater life, but only minor extinctions of freshwater species are actually observed. We propose a mechanism to neutralize the acid using larnite (ß-Ca2SiO4), produced as a result of the specific lithology at the Chicxulub impact site. The impact vapor plume must have been enriched in calcium from the carbonate-rich target, leading to the crystallization of larnite. The acid-neutralizing capacity of the larnite grains would have been high enough to consume acid produced after the K-T event within several hours, reducing it to a level at which freshwater life would not have been affected, even if all the acid had precipitated instantaneously after the K-T impact. This scenario can explain some of the extinction selectivity at the K-T boundary.

Key Words: impacts • K-T boundary • acid rain • mass extinction • Chic xulub crater




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