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Science 29 January 1988:
Vol. 239. no. 4839, pp. 485 - 487
DOI: 10.1126/science.239.4839.485
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Articles

Seawater Strontium Isotopes, Acid Rain, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary

J. D. MACDOUGALL 1

1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093.

A large bolide impact at the end of the Cretaceous would have produced significant amounts of nitrogen oxides by shock heating of the atmosphere. The resulting acid precipitation would have increased continental weathering greatly and could be an explanation for the observed high ratio of strontium-87 to strontium-86 in seawater at about this time, due to the dissolution of large amounts of strontium from the continental crust. Spikes to high values in the seawater strontium isotope record at other times may reflect similar episodes.

Submitted on September 28, 1987
Accepted on December 7, 1987


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Lacustrine Fossil Preservation in Acidic Environments: Implications of Experimental and Field Studies for the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary Acid Rain Trauma.
J. V. BAILEY, A. S. COHEN, and D. A. KRING (2005)
Palaios 20, 376-389
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
End-Permian catastrophe by a bolide impact: Evidence of a gigantic release of sulfur from the mantle.
K. Kaiho, Y. Kajiwara, T. Nakano, Y. Miura, H. Kawahata, K. Tazaki, M. Ueshima, Z. Chen, and G. R. Shi (2001)
Geology 29, 815-818
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for a small (~0.000 030) but resolvable increase in seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratios across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.
K. G. MacLeod, B. T. Huber, and P. D. Fullagar (2001)
Geology 29, 303-306
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
K-T boundary spherules from Blake Nose (ODP Leg 171B) as a record of the Chicxulub ejecta deposits.
F. Martinez-Ruiz, M. Ortega-Huertas, I. Palomo-Delgado, and J. Smit (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 183, 149-161
   Abstract »    PDF »
After the Fall: Although the dust was bad, the chemical fallout from the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact was worse--much worse.
M. M. Waldrop and M. M. WALDROP (1988)
Science 239, 977
   PDF »


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