#kt boundary

[luidilovins]

You guys wanna see my prized possession?

Not only did I buy it certified but I also have a field geologist buddy who verified using his eyes. 😚

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

Belgian and Dutch palaeontologists have discovered that the marine life in our regions recovered exceptionally quickly after the meteorite impact that heralded the end of the dinosaurs.

The impact of a meteorite of up to 10 kilometres in diameter on the Mexican peninsula of Yucatan 66 million years ago caused worldwide environmental disasters with tsunamis, a nuclear winter, acid rain and sudden climate changes. The result: one of the biggest biodiversity crises ever. Three quarters of the animal kingdom and half of all plant species were wiped off the map.

However, the consequences of the meteorite impact were not equally dramatic everywhere. A new study by Belgian and Dutch palaeontologists from KU Leuven, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Maastricht Natural History Museum shows that life in the subtropical sea that covered Limburg survived the environmental disasters very well.

The former Curfs-Ankerpoort limestone quarry, 5 kilometres east of Maastricht, is one of the few places in the world where one can study the direct effects of the meteorite impact on the marine fauna in detail. The team collected some 1,400 fossils of gastropods and bivalves in limestone layers that date from just before and just after the meteorite impact. 'We found that the diversity of the gastropods from the two periods is very similar, as if these animals had hardly suffered from the environmental disasters', says Johan Vellekoop of the KU Leuven. The Limburg marine fauna was probably already able to survive with smaller supplies of food during the Cretaceous. When the meteorite set in motion a chain reaction of environmental disasters, a large part of the local fauna survived this difficult period, after which the ecosystem here recovered relatively quickly,' says Vellekoop.

The new research shows that the local consequences of global environmental disasters depend very much on the conditions in place prior to the disaster. Life in the Limburg Cretaceous Sea proved exceptionally resilient', concludes Vellekoop.

The study was published in the journal Palaeontology.

[scientificphilosopher]

[buy the t-shirt]

[marklakshmanan]

The Day the Mesozoic Died

How the story of the dinosaurs’ demise was uncovered.

[originallonemagpie]

The Day the Dinosaurs Died

A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth.

[erebusvincent]

Fossils show worldwide catastrophe on the day the dinosaurs died

Prehistoric fish swallowed glass spheres that rained on Earth almost immediately after the asteroid impact.

[itmocca]

Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink

It's called "mass extinction," and it's happened at least five times before. Cataclysms, such as supervolcanoes or asteroids, are thought to cause these events, but some experts believe a man-made mass extinction could be next. #science #Extinction

It’s death on an unimaginable scale, when a majority of Earth’s species quickly die out. It’s called “mass extinction,” and it’s happened at least five times before. Cataclysms, such as supervolcanoes or asteroids, are thought to cause these events, but some experts believe a man-made mass extinction could be next. Is our planet in trouble? And if so, is there anything we can do to stop the next…

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[shedman]

Survival of the luckiest

‘Chunkosaurus’ on the K-T boundary in the badlands