EARTH HISTORY CATASTROPHES
CONTENTS 1 THE GEOLOGICAL EXTINCTION RECORD HISTORY DATA BIASES AND TESTING 1 2 LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES AND MASS EXTINCTIONS AN UPDATE 29 3 DECCAN VOLCANISM THE CHICXULUB IMPACT AND THE END CRETACEOUS MASS EXTINCTION COINCIDENCE CAUSE AND EFFECT 57 4 EFFECTS OF DECCAN VOLCANISM ON PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PLANKTIC FORAMINIFERA A GLOBAL SURVEY 91 5 PLANTS AND FLORAL CHANGE AT THE CRETACEOUS PALEOGENE BOUNDARY THREE DECADES ON 117 6 THE EARLY DANIAN HYPERTHERMAL EVENT AT BOLTYSH UKRAINE RELATION TO CRETACEOUS PALEOGENE BOUNDARY EVENTS 133 7 PLANT MACROFOSSILS FROM BOLTYSH CRATER PROVIDE A WINDOW INTO EARLY CENOZOIC VEGETATION 147 8 DECCAN VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON FLORA PALYNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 171 9 VERTEBRATE FAUNA FROM THE DECCAN VOLCANIC PROVINCE RESPONSE TO VOLCANIC ACTIVITY 193 10 WHAT THE DINOSAUR RECORD SAYS ABOUT EXTINCTION SCENARIOS 213 11 THE PLIENSBACHIAN TOARCIAN EARLY JURASSIC EXTINCTION A NORTH AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE 225 12 VOLCANISM OF THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC MAGMATIC PROVINCE AS THE TRIGGER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOTIC CHANGES AROUND THE TRIASSIC JURASSIC BOUNDARY 245 13 CLIMATIC REVERSALS RELATED TO THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC MAGMATIC PROVINCE CAUSED THE END TRIASSIC BIOTIC CRISIS EVIDENCE FROM CONTINENTAL STRATA IN POLAND 263 14 AN EARTH SYSTEM APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE END ORDOVICIAN HIRNANTIAN MASS EXTINCTION 287 15 A REVIEW OF THE EMBEDDED TIME SCALES OF FLOOD BASALT VOLCANISM WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON DRAMATICALLY SHORT MAGMATIC PULSES 301 16 EMPLACEMENT CHARACTERISTICS TIME SCALES AND VOLCANIC GAS RELEASE RATES OF CONTINENTAL FLOOD BASALT ERUPTIONS ON EARTH 319 17 MODELING THE CARBON SULFATE INTERPLAYS IN CLIMATE CHANGES RELATED TO THE EMPLACEMENT OF CONTINENTAL FLOOD BASALTS 339 18 ATMOSPHERIC HALOGEN AND ACID RAINS DURING THE MAIN PHASE OF DECCAN ERUPTIONS MAGNETIC AND MINERAL EVIDENCE 353 THE GEOLOGICAL EXTINCTION RECORD HISTORY DATA BIASES AND TESTING ABSTRACT THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD REPRESENTS THE ONLY SOURCE OF DATA AVAILABLE FOR DOCUMENT ING LONG TERM HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF EXTINCTION INTENSITY AND EXTINCTION SUSCEPTIBILITY SUCH DATA ARE CRITICAL FOR TESTING HYPOTHESES OF EXTINCTION CAUSALITY IN THE MODERN WORLD AS WELL AS IN DEEP TIME THE STUDY OF EXTINCTION IS RELATIVELY NEW PRIOR TO 1800 EXTINCTIONS WERE NOT ACCEPTED AS A FEATURE OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT EVEN AFTER EXTINCTIONS WERE RECOGNIZED TO HAVE OCCURRED IN EARTH S GEOLOGICAL PAST THEY WERE DEEMED TO HAVE PLAYED A MINOR ROLE IN MEDIATING EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES UNTIL THE 1950S GLOBAL EXTINCTION EVENTS ARE NOW RECOGNIZED AS HAVING BEEN A RECURRING FEATURE OF THE HISTORY OF LIFE AND TO HAVE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN PROMOTING BIOTIC DIVER SI CATION INTERPRETATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL EXTINCTION RECORD IS RENDERED COMPLEX AS A RESULT OF SEVERAL BIASING FACTORS THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RESOLU TIONS AT WHICH THE DATA USED TO STUDY EXTINCTIONS HAVE BEEN RECORDED UCTUATIONS IN SEDIMENT ACCUMULATION RATES THE PRESENCE OF HIATUSES IN THE STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS CORES FROM WHICH FOSSILS ARE COLLECTED AND VARIATION IN THE VOLUMES OF SEDIMENTS THAT CAN BE SEARCHED FOR FOSSILS OF DIFFERENT AGES THE ACTION OF THESE FACTORS CONSPIRES TO RENDER THE TEMPORAL AND GEOGRAPHIC RECORDS OF FOSSIL OCCURRENCES INCOMPLETE IN MANY LOCAL STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS AND CORES IN SOME CASES THESE STRATIGRAPHIC AND SAM PLING UNCERTAINTIES CAN BE QUANTI ED AND TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN INTERPRETATIONS OF THAT RECORD HOWEVER THEIR EFFECTS CAN NEVER BE ELIMINATED ENTIRELY TESTING HYPOTHESES OF GLOBAL EXTINCTION CAUSALITY REQUIRES ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE UNCERTAINTIES INHERENT IN EXTINCTION DATA THE SEARCH FOR UNIQUE PREDICTIONS OF HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF VARIATION OR ASSOCIATIONS THAT CAN IN PRINCIPLE BE PRESERVED IN THE FOSSIL RECORD AND TIED LOGICALLY TO THE OPERATION OF SPECI C CAUSAL PROCESSES AND TO ADOPTION OF AN EXPLICITLY COM PARATIVE APPROACH THAT ESTABLISHES THE PRESENCE OF MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF THE PREDICTED CAUSE EFFECT COUPLETS WITHIN A WELL DOCUMENTED CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT 1 1 INTRODUCTION FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS A SIGNI CANT PROPORTION OF THE SCI ENTI C COMMUNITY HAS BEEN INTENSELY INTERESTED IN THE IDEA OF EXTINCTIONS ESPECIALLY THE MASS EXTINCTION OF THE DINOSAURS AT OR CLOSE TO THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE CRETACEOUS K AND PALEOGENE PG INTERVALS OF EARTH HISTORY THIS INTEREST PREDATES THE CURRENT CONCERN WITH THE SO CALLED SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION A POTENTIAL EVENT THAT MAY OCCUR IN THE FUTURE AND THAT TAKES ITS NAME FROM THE BIG FIVE ANCIENT MASS EXTINCTION EVENTS OF THE FOSSIL RECORD SEE FOLLOWING THE REASONS FOR THIS INTEREST ARE MANY AND VARIED BUT THEY SHARE A COMMON SOURCE THE CONCEPT OF EXTINCTION ELICITS A DEEP EMOTIONAL REACTION IN MOST PEOPLE INCLUDING SCIENTISTS TO NO SMALL EXTENT BECAUSE WE ALL SHARE AN INTUITIVE CONCERN ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATIONS BEING WROUGHT IN THE CONTEMPORARY ENVIRON MENT WHEN WE SEE CHANGES TAKING PLACE IN LANDSCAPES ANIMALS AND PLANTS AT LOCAL REGIONAL AND GLOBAL SCALES WE CANNOT HELP BUT EXPERIENCE A SENSE OF FOREBODING THAT COMES FROM DRAWING OBVIOUS PARALLELS BETWEEN THE STATUS OF OWN SPECIES AND THE FATES OF OTHER FAR MORE ANCIENT SPECIES THAT RULED THE EARTH IN THE DISTANT PAST IN THIS REVIEW I 1 RECOUNT THE HISTORY OF EXTINC TION STUDIES 2 DESCRIBE THE TYPES OF PALEONTOLOGICAL DATA USED TO STUDY ANCIENT EXTINCTION EVENTS 3 DISCUSS THE UNCERTAINTIES AND BIASES THAT AFFECT THE INTERPRETATION OF THESE DATA ALONG WITH SOME OF THE METHODS AVAILABLE TO QUANTIFY THEM 4 DESCRIBE THREE EXAMPLES OF DATA COLLECTED FROM THE END CRETACEOUS EXTINC TION INTERVAL TO ILLUSTRATE POINTS 2 3 AND 4 AND 5 OFFER A PERSPECTIVE ON THE MANNER IN WHICH HYPOTHESES THAT SEEK TO ADDRESS THE CAUSES OF ANCIENT EXTINCTION EVENTS CAN BE TESTED IN THE PALEONTOLOGICAL RECORD HISTORY OF EXTINCTION STUDIES 1700 1950 PRIOR TO THE LATE 1700S THE WESTERN SOCIAL AND SCIENTI C CONSENSUS HELD THAT EXTINCTION WAS IMPOSSIBLE SINCE ALL CREATURES HAD BEEN CREATED BY GOD AND SINCE GOD S CREATION WAS PERFECT NONE OF THE SPECIES HE FASHIONED COULD DISAP PEAR NONETHELESS AS THE NEW SCIENCE OF PALEONTOLOGY BEGAN BRINGING ITS RST MAJOR DISCOVERIES TO LIGHT AN INCREASINGLY LARGE NUMBER OF RESEARCHERS BEGAN TO WONDER WHETHER THE LARGE VERTEBRATE FOSSILS OF STRANGE CREATURES THAT WERE THEN BEING UNEARTHED BY ENLIGHTENMENT EXPLORERS WERE INDEED THE REMAINS OF EXTINCT SPECIES THE MOST FAMOUS OF THESE FOSSILS WAS RECOVERED FROM A SITE IN THE TERRITORY THAT WOULD LATER BECOME THE AMERICAN STATE OF OHIO IN 1739 FRENCH SOLDIERS UNDER THE COMMAND OF BARON CHARLES LE MOYNE DE LOUGUEUIL 1656 1729 RECOVERED A TUSK FEMUR AND THREE CURIOUS MOLAR TEETH FROM AN UNKNOWN LOCALITY POSSIBLY THE SITE THAT WOULD LATER BECOME KNOWN AS BIG BONE LICK HEDEEN 2008 LOUGUEUIL SENT THESE SPECIMENS TO THE CABINET DU ROI ROYAL CABINET OF CURIOSITIES IN PARIS SUBSEQUENT STUDY OF THIS MATERIAL BY THE NATURALISTS JEAN TIENNE GUETTARD 1715 1786 IN 1756 AND LOUIS JEAN MARIE DAUBENTON 1716 1799 IN 1762 LED THEM TO CONCLUDE THAT THE TUSK AND FEMUR BELONGED TO A MODERN ELEPHANT THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH BUT THAT THE MOLARS BELONGED TO A GIANT HIPPOPOTAMUS ADDITIONAL PIECEMEAL SPECIMENS RECOVERED FROM THE OHIO COUNTRY AFTER THE 1739 ND MADE THEIR WAY TO LONDON AND TO PHILADELPHIA WHERE THEY WERE STUDIED BY NATURALISTS FROM BRIT AIN AND THE UNITED STATES WITH INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS THESE NDS DID MANAGE HOWEVER TO THROW DOUBT ON DAUBENTON S HIPPO POTAMUS INTERPRETATION BECAUSE THE TUSKS LONG BONES AND TEETH CLEARLY BELONGED TO THE SAME ANIMAL NEVERTHELESS THE MOLARS OF THE AMERICAN INCOGNITUM AS THE ANIMAL CAME TO BE KNOWN WERE UNLIKE THOSE OF ANY LIVING ELEPHANT AFTER INSPECTING THE LONDON SPECIMENS THE BRITISH ANATO MIST WILLIAM HUNTER INTERPRETED THEM AS BELONGING TO A GIANT CARNIVORE AND WAS THE RST TO SPECULATE THAT THESE REMAINS MIGHT BE FROM AN EXTINCT SPECIES THEN IN 1799 DISCOVERY OF AN AMERI CAN INCOGNITUM FEMUR FROM QUATERNARY DEPOSITS IN THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY LED TO EXCAVATIONS ORGANIZED BY CHARLES WILSON PEALE 1741 1827 BY 1801 THESE EXCAVATIONS HAD RESULTED IN THE RECOVERY OF AN ALMOST COMPLETE SKELETON PEALE RECONSTRUCTED THE SKELETON WITH HELP FROM THE AMERICAN ANATOMIST CASPAR WIS TAR 1761 1818 CAST THE BONES THAT WERE MISSING AND DISPLAYED THE MOUNTED SKELETON IN PUBLIC IN DECEMBER OF THAT YEAR FIG 1 IT IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION TO SAY THAT PANDEMONIUM OVER PEALE S SKELETON QUICKLY SWEPT THE UNITED STATES AND LATER THE WORLD BASED ON DRAWINGS OF THE MOUNTED AMERICAN SPECIMEN THE FRENCH ANATOMIST GEORGES CUVIER 1769 1832 FIG 2 RESOLVED THE AMERICAN INCOGNITUM CONTROVERSY IN 1806 BY DEMONSTRATING THAT BOTH THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH AND THE ANIMAL DE L OHIO WERE ELEPHANTS BUT OF DIFFERENT SPECIES CUVIER ARGUED THAT THESE SPE CIES WERE BOTH DISTINCT FROM MODERN ELEPHANTS OF WHICH THERE FIGURE 1 EDOUARD DE MONTULE S 1816 PAINTING OF CHARLES WILSON PEALE S RECONSTRUCTION OF THE AMERICAN INCOGNITUM SPECIMENS LIKE PEALE S SUPPLIED CRITICAL EVIDENCE FOR CUVIER S REINTERPRETATION OF THE FOSSIL AS AN EXTINCT PROBISCIDEAN ONE OF THE RST ANIMALS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS EXTINCT BY THE SCIENTI C COMMUNITY NOTE THE TUSKS IN PEALE S ORIGINAL RECONSTRUCTION WERE ORIENTED UPSIDE DOWN A MISTAKE THAT WAS LATER CORRECTED WHEN ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS CAME TO LIGHT IMAGE USED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE RARE BOOK ROOM BUFFALO ERIE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY GLOBAL CATASTROPHES IN EARTH HISTORY 2 WERE TWO SPECIES 1 CUVIER WENT ON TO SUGGEST THAT THE OHIO ELE PHANT WHICH HE DESCRIBED AS A MASTODON ON ACCOUNT OF THE ROUNDED CONICAL SHAPE OF ITS MOLAR CUSPS WAS TOO LARGE TO HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED BY NATURALISTS ON VARIOUS VOYAGES AND EXPEDI TIONS OF DISCOVERY IN THE 1700S AND SO PROBABLY REPRESENTED AN EXTINCT SPECIES SUCH WAS CUVIER S STATURE IN THE SCIENTI C COM MUNITY THAT THIS PRONOUNCEMENT IS WIDELY REGARDED AS THE RST CONVINCING EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF AN EXTINCT SPECIES GEORGES CUVIER ALSO FORMULATED THE CONCEPT OF MASS EXTINC TION IN THE EARLY 1800S AFTER NOTING THE JUXTAPOSITION OF FOSSILS OF UNUSUAL HORSE LIKE AND DOG LIKE CREATURES WITH SEASHELLS IN SEVERAL LOCALITIES WITHIN THE PARIS BASIN ALONG WITH HIS COLLABORATOR ALEX ANDRE BRONGNIART 1770 1847 CUVIER INTERPRETED THESE ASSOCIA TIONS AS INDICATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE HAD TAKEN PLACE IN EARTH S DISTANT PAST THE SCALE AND INTENSITY OF WHICH WERE UNPREC EDENTED IN HUMAN HISTORY THIS EVENT AFFECTED BOTH TERRESTRIAL AND SHALLOW MARINE ENVIRONMENTS TOGETHER SWEEPING UP ORGANISMS THAT LIVED IN SEPARATE HABITATS INDISCRIMINATELY AND DEPOSITING THEM IN ASSEMBLAGES THAT COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED NATURAL CUVIER REFERRED TO SUCH EVENTS AS REVOLUTIONS DRAWING ON THE MOST OBVIOUS POLITI CAL PARALLEL OF HIS OWN DAY THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINALLY IN A 1810 REPORT ON HIS PARIS BASIN STRATIGRAPHIC INVESTIGATIONS AND FROM 1812 ONWARDS IN HIS MONOGRAPH ON FOSSIL SH SEE RUDWICK 1997 CUVIER EXPANDED AND DEVELOPED THIS CONCEPT OF REVOLUTION ARY EXTINCTIONS THAT RESULTED IN WHOLE GROUPS OF ORGANISMS BEING ANNIHILATED SUDDENLY SUCH THAT ONLY A FEW RELICT SURVIVORS WERE LEFT THE RST DIAGRAM OF THE BIODIVERSITY OR RICHNESS OF LIFE THROUGH GEOLOGICAL TIME WAS PUBLISHED BY JOHN PHILLIPS 1800 1874 IN 1860 THIS DIAGRAM FIG 3 WHICH WAS BASED ON DATA FIGURE 2 JAMES THOMPSON S CA 1800 ENGRAVING OF BARON GEORGES CU VIER 1769 1832 DESCRIBER OF THE RST EXTINCT SPECIES AND ORIGINATOR OF THE CONCEPT OF MASS EXTINCTION RIGHT ILLUSTRATION OF THE MANDIBLE AND MOLAR TEETH OF A MAMMOTH A AND AN INDIAN ELEPHANT B THAT APPEARED IN CUVIER S 1799 MONOGRAPH ON LIVING AND FOSSIL ELEPHANTS SOURCES WIKIMEDIA COMMONS COLLECTED PRIMARILY FROM UK STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS SHOWS LIFE S HISTORY AS HAVING A BROADLY ASCENDING PATTERN THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE PHASES BY APPARENT DIVERSITY RADIATIONS EACH OF WHICH IS SEPARATED BY DISTINCT INTERVALS IN WHICH BIODIVERSITY DECLINED ONE AT THE CLOSE OF THE PALEOZOIC AND ONE AT THE CLOSE OF THE MESO ZOIC TIME INTERVALS PHILLIPS ALSO PROPOSED A SMALLER AND LESS WELL DE NED DROP IN RICHNESS AS CHARACTERIZING THE MIDDLE PALEOZOIC THOUGH PHILLIPS BIODIVERSITY DIAGRAM WAS USED IN HIS OWN DAY TO ADVOCATE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PALEOZOIC MESOZOIC AND C NO ZOIC CENOZOIC AS USEFUL SUBDIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME IT TOOK MORE THAN A CENTURY FOR PALEONTOLOGISTS TO BECOME SERIOUSLY INTERESTED IN THE STUDY OF THE EXTINCTION PATTERNS EVIDENT THEREIN THIS DELAY RE ECTS THE FACT THAT MANY SCIENTISTS OF PHILLIPS TIME REGARDED THE DATA AT THEIR DISPOSAL AS BEING INSUF CIENT TO PORTRAY THE MAJOR OUTLINES OF LIFE S DIVERSITY HISTORY CORRECTLY IN CONTRAST TO CUVIER CHARLES DARWIN 1809 1882 FIG 4 VIEWED EXTINCTION AS A GRADUAL PROCESS THAT COMES ABOUT AS A RESULT OF NATURAL SELECTION IN PARTICULAR DARWIN OPPOSED THE IDEA THAT LARGE NUMBERS OF EXTINCTIONS WERE CAUSED DIRECTLY BY PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE FORM OF NATURAL CATASTROPHES THIS WAS IN KEEPING WITH THE THEORY OF GRADUALISM IN NATURAL PROCESSES TO WHICH MANY OF DARWIN S PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTI C COLLEAGUES SUBSCRIBED E G THE GEOLOGIST CHARLES LYELL 1797 1875 AND THAT MANY OF THOSE WHO OPPOSED DARWIN S THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION REJECTED E G SIR RICHARD OWEN 1804 1892 AS A RESULT THE TOPIC OF EXTINCTION DOES NOT GURE GREATLY IN DARWIN S SEMINAL BOOK ON EVOLUTION ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION OR THE PRESERVATION OF FAVORED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE 1859 OR INDEED IN ANY OF DARWIN S WRITINGS OWING TO THE POPULARITY OF DARWIN S ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF EVOLUTION AS A NATURAL PROCESS AND HIS THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION AS THE MEANS BY WHICH EVOLUTION COMES ABOUT HIS VIEWS ON SPE CIES EXTINCTION WENT ON TO BECOME SCIENTI C ORTHODOXY THROUGHOUT THE LATE 1800S AND EARLY 1900S BY THE 1940S AND 1950S HOWEVER THE SCIENTI C COMMUNITY S VIEW OF EXTINCTION HAD DRIFTED FROM 1TO THAT POINT THE AFRICAN AND INDIAN ELEPHANTS HAD BEEN GROUPED INTO A SINGLE SPECIES FIGURE 3 JOHN PHILLIPS 1860 DIAGRAM OF PHANEROZOIC BIODIVERSITY LEFT A PHOTOGRAPH OF JOHN PHILLIPS TAKEN IN 1860 RIGHT SOURCE WIKIMEDIA COMMONS GLOBAL CATASTROPHES IN 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