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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION,
VOL. 84, NO. 21,
doi:10.1029/2003EO210009,
2003
Evolutionary Catastrophes: The Science of Mass Extinction
Willis Hames
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
Abstract
The stories behind the greatest scientific controversies are more than entertaining. They provide windows into the evolution
of scientific thought, scientific method, technological achievements and their research applications, and the influence of
individuals and personalities on a community's acceptance of a theory. Epic controversies surround the theories for Earth's
mass extinction events, and none are more spectacular than the continuing polemic over the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) mass
extinctions and ultimate demise of the dinosaurs. In contrast to other great scientific debates, we tend to view the K/T event
in the context of a crime scene, where the spectacularly diverse flora and fauna of a primordial Eden were unwittingly slain
by one or more ruthless and efficient killers. A “foreign” suspect has been fingered; an intruder that killed suddenly and
randomly has become the principal suspect. The main clues uncovered in the case include a global K/T iridium anomaly; shock-deformed
minerals in K/T boundary sediments; the ˜65m.y.-old Deccan flood-basalt province, which covered an area roughly the size of
France; and the ˜65 m.y.-old Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatan peninsula, which seems to be among the largest to have
formed in the inner solar system over the past billion years.
Index Terms: 9910 Books; 1749 History of Geophysics: Volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology; 1719 History of Geophysics: Hydrology.
Print Version (155273 bytes)
Citation: Hames, W.
(2003),
Evolutionary Catastrophes: The Science of Mass Extinction,
Eos Trans. AGU,
84(21),
doi:10.1029/2003EO210009.
Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.
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