The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism Volume 4 Print Reference: Pages 241-252 Article 18 1998 The Impact at the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary Thomas Fritsche Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings DigitalCommons@Cedarville provides a publication platform for fully open access journals, which means that all articles are available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. However, the opinions and sentiments expressed by the authors of articles published in our journals do not necessarily indicate the endorsement or reflect the views of DigitalCommons@Cedarville, the Centennial Library, or Cedarville University and its employees. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their work. Please address questions to [email protected]. Browse the contents of this volume of The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. Recommended Citation Fritsche, Thomas (1998) "The Impact at the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary," The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism: Vol. 4 , Article 18. Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings/vol4/iss1/18 THE IMPACT AT THE CRETACEOUSrrERTIARY BOUNDARY THOMAS FRITZSCHE, DR. BAHNHOFSTR. 2 37139 ADELEBSEN - GERMANY KEYWORDS Impact, K-T boundary, catastrophism, mass extinction ABSTRACT The discovery of iridium anomalies in three Cretaceous-Tertiary sections by the Alvarez team in 1980 prompted them to hypothesize an asteroid impact to explain these unusual concentrations. In the following years further evidence provided more support for their hypothesis, but a small minority of scientists are still unconvinced. Since the earth sciences were confronted with the impact hypothesis heated debates about mass extinctions, gradual or extraterrestrial causes, Lyellian uniformitarianism, evolution, and catastrophism got under way. Creationists have taken up this topic reluctantly, perhaps well aware that too much catastrophism may disturb cherished Flood models as well. Nevertheless, impact events did occur and should have their appropriate place in every earth model. INTRODUCTION Within the last few decades geology has rediscovered geological catastrophes as powerful means to explain earth history. Extensive volcanism, landslides, tsunamis, turbidity currents and flash floods have been explored, often exceeding our imagination when compared to the processes we observe today. The era of neocatastrophism was in full bloom with the appearance of the famous paper by Alvarez, Alvarez, Asaro and Michel in 1980 [3], hypothesizing an asteroid impact to explain the demise of the dinosaurs, ammonites etc. at the CretaceousfTertiary (K-T) boundary. Extraterrestrial causes had been suggested earlier. Schindewolf [60] reasoned that there is a nonterrestrial input to mass extinction events. Cosmic radiation, e.g. through a supemova explosion and a higher production of radioactive isotopes, seemed a plausible explanation to him. McLaren in 1970 [42] inferred an asteroid impact to explain the late Devonian mass extinction. Urey in 1973 [72] thought cometary impacts in earth history possible and made a rough estimation of the energetic effects. In his view a comet could have killed the dinosaurs and initiated the Tertiary period. Their speculations were passed over without comment by the scientific community for lack of evidence. Perhaps only the fact that they were well-known scientists protected them from negative reactions. Several explanations for the K-T transition had been suggested but there was no unanimity among the scientists [3]. The incompleteness of the geological record was stressed in former times to overcome the obvious suddenness of extinction the record showed so clearly. But long before the Alvarez paper it was evident that there was no time gap between the Cretaceous and Tertiary. Though impacts and mass extinctions are accepted by the majority of earth scientists now, extraterrestrial and violent causes were and are still not accepted by some paleontologists, who prefer a causal connection between environmental changes and evolutionary (gradual) processes. So the K­ T impact was an impact for science itself. For the first time since the days of Lyell and Darwin scientists had to put their cards on the table and show where they stood: impactor or volcanist, catastrophist or uniformitarian, punctualist or gradualist. 241 The first part of this paper is a short review of the KIT impact issue. In the second part I want to point to some crucial aspects of the matter which affect creationist modeling of earth history. The conclusions are tentative, because much work on the meaning of mass extinctions, sudden events, and the stratigraphie record has to be done. The Alvarez-paper The story of the iridium anomaly has been repeatedly told [e.g. 4]. In the beginning, it had been the purpose to estimate the sedimentation rates of limestone and a thin clay layer in a K-T section near Gubbio (Italy). Measuring the iridium content of both the limestone and the K-T boundary clay by neutron activation analysis should allow for relative dating. Because iridium and other platinum group elements are depleted in the crust and upper mantle but much more concentrated in chondritic meteorites, their abundance in sediments should be a measure for the influx of meteoritic dust onto the earth's surface. The result of their analysis was astonishing. The concentration of iridium in the boundary clay was 30 times above the background concentration. In two other sections, Stevns Klint in Denmark and Woodside Creek in New Zealand, they found concentrations 160 and 20 times above the background values, respectively. After discussing and excluding other explanations, the authors suggested that a 10 kilometer asteroid might account for the extreme iridium anomalies and the chemical fingerprint of other elements studied. The collision of this bolide with the earth could have launched 60 times the object's mass into the atmosphere. This ejecta layer of dust should stay in the atmosphere for some years, a surmise based on the duration of colored sunsets after the Krakatoa explosion in 1883. In the ensuing discussions this was reduced to some months. The implications for living beings would have been devastating. During the period of darkness photosynthesis was suppressed and gave rise to a breakdown of food chains. As a consequence those bizarre dinosaurs and many other species died out. K-T boundary research Within the next few years further details of an impact scenario were presented [24, 27, 43, 44, 53, 55, 74]. The immediate event would have been a fireball spreading out from the impact site. The impact would have generated earthquakes measuring up to 13 on the Richter scale [1], about 10000 times more intense than the most violent quakes in our days. A dust cloud would have surrounded the earth and led to darkness. Temperatures would have decreased for some months, but after a short period of cooling global heating due to a terrestrial greenhouse effect would have occurred. Many species are more sensitive to higher temperatures, so this may have been the main killing mechanism. If the impact hit the ocean gigantic waves would have been produced and tsunamis would have flooded all coasts. Turbidity currents would have moved vast amounts of sediments. The shock heating of the atmosphere would have produced nitric oxides and pure nitric acid would have poured down to earth as rain. Depending on the amount of acid the carbonate-buffering capacity of the surface ocean would have been more or less destroyed. The weathering of continental soils could have mobilized trace metals with toxic concentrations. The soot layer at the K-T boundary may even evidence global wildfires ignited through thermal radiation of downfalling ejecta. As for example the production of acid rain depends on the target rocks hidden by the bolide, all calculations of the impact consequences should be taken with some care. It was initially believed that about 60-75 percent of all existing species at that time died out and no terrestrial animals weighing more than 25 kilograms survived. Many genera died out or were reduced. The main victims were the dinosaurs (saurischia, omithischia, pterosauria), ammonites, belemnites, plesiosaurs, and calcareous microorganisms (foraminifers and coccoliths). Some genera appeared to have experienced complete reduction, like the birds and snakes, but survived somehow. Many plants, terrestrial mammals, fish and silicaceous planktonic organisms suffered far less. Some events in the marine realm can produce an iridium anomaly too, and so it was initially hoped that a marine explanation could be found. The anomalies first reported by the Alvarez team were found in chalk sediments attributed to deep sea (Gubbio) or shallow marine environment (Stevns Klint). But a terrestrial site was soon reported by Orth et al. [50] from a drill in the Raton Basin, New Mexico. The iridium anomaly seemed to be evidence of a global event affecting both the oceans and the continents. 242 In the following years the impact got more and more support, the ever growing evidence for an impact convinced one sceptic after another. Sanidine spherules were found in many K-T sections and were interpreted as high temperature indicators [65), representing impact debris falling out from the ejecta cloud. At one point it was hoped that the terrestrial origin of the boundary clay could be demonstrated by the osmium isotope