Evidence for a major meteorite impact on the earth 34 million years ago: Implication on the origin of North American tektites and Eocene extinction
- 1 January 1982
- book chapter
- Published by Geological Society of America
- p. 513-516
- https://doi.org/10.1130/spe190-p513
Abstract
A deep-sea core from the Caribbean contains a layer of sediment highly enriched in meteoritic iridium. This layer underlies a precisely deated (34.4 m.y.) layer of North American microtektites and coincides with the extinction of five major species of radiolaria. A causal relationship is strongly suggested: a massive (⩾3 km, ⩾50 billion ton), chemically undifferentiated meteorite collided with the earth, produced the tektites, and led to worldwide extinctions 34 m.y. ago.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: