GLOBAL CATASTROPHES IN EARTH HISTORY An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism, and Mass Mortality Snowbird, Utah October 20-23, 1988 N89-2 12E7 --?HEW- Sponsored by The Lunar and Planetary Institute and The National Academy of Sciences Abstracts Presented to the Topical Conference Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism, and Mass Mortality Snowbird, Utah October 20 - 23,1988 Sponsored by Lunar and Planetary Institute and The National Academy of Sciences LPI Contribution No. 673 Compiled in 1988 Lunar and Planetary Institute Material in this volume may be copied without restraint for library, abstract service, educational, or personal research purposes; however, republication of any paper or portion thereof requires the written permission of the authors as well as appropriate acknowledgment of this publication. PREFACE This volume contains abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the topical conference Global Catastrophes in Earth History: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Impacts, Volcanism and Mass Mortality. The Organizing Committee consisted of Robert Ginsburg, Chairman, University of Miami; Kevin Burke, Lunar and Planetary Institute; Lee M. Hunt, National Research Council; Digby McLaren, University of Ottawa; Thomas Simkin, National Museum of Natural History; Starley L. Thompson, National Center for Atmospheric Research; Karl K. Turekian, Yale University; George W. Wetherill, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Logistics and administrative support were provided by the Projects Ofice at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. This abstract volume was prepared by the Publications Office staff at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. The Lunar and Planetary Institute is operated by the Universities Space Research Association under contract No. NASW-4066 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Die Debate over the Cretaceous-TertiayBounday W. Alvarez, F. Asaro, L. W. Alvarez, and H. V. Michel ........................................................................... 1 Geological Indicators for Impact - The Anomalous Case of the Vrewort Structure, South Africa L. A. G. Antoine and W. U. Reimold ......................................................................................................... 2 Limitations on K-T Mass minction Theories Based Upon the VertebrateRecord J. D. Archibald and L. J. Bryant .................................................................................................................. 4 Possible World-Wide Middle Miocene Iridium Anomaly and its Relationship to Periodicity of Impacts and Extnctions F. Asaro, W. Alvarez, H. V. Michel, L. W.Alvarez, M. H. Anders, A. Montanari, and J. P. Kennett ........................................................................................ 6 TIte Cratering Record in the Inner Solar System: Implications for Emh N. G. Barlow ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Carbon Dioxide Catastrophes: Past and Future Menace M. E. Baur ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 Implications of Asteroid Compositionfor the Geochemisty of the Ancient Terrestrial Projectile Flux J. F. Bell .......................................................................................................................................................... 12 Late Wenlock (Middle Silurian) Bio-Events: Caused by Volatile Boloid Impact/s? W. B. N. Berry, P. Wilde, and M. S. Quinby-Hunt .................................................................................... 13 Geochemisty of K/T Boundaries in India and Contributions of Deccan Volcanism N. Bhandari, M. Gupta, J. Pandey, and P. N. Shukla ................................................................................ 15 Shocked Quartz and More: Impact Signatures in K-T Bounday Clays and Claystones E. F. Bohor ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Response of Marine and Freshwater Algae to Nitric Acid and Elevated Carbon Dioxide Levels Simulating Environmental Egects of Bolide Impact P. J. Boston ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Sedimentological Efiects of Tsunamis, with Particular Reference to Impact-Generated and Volcanogenic Waves J. Bourgeois, P. L. Wiberg, and T. A. Hansen ........................................................................................... 21 Ocean Alkalinity and the Cretaceous/Te?iia y Bounday K. G. Caldeira and M. R. Rampino ............................................................................................................. 23 Dinosaur Bone Beds and Mass Mortality: Implicationsfor the K-T Ertinction K. Carpenter ................................................................................................................................................... 24 Risk to Civilization: A Planetary Science Perspective C. R. Chapman and D. Morrison ................................................................................................................ 26 Magnetic Microsphemles Associated with the K/T and Upper Eocene Ertinction Events S. M. Cisowski ................................................................................................................................................ 28 V PRECEDING PAGE BLANK NOT FILMED Origination, Divemity, and Exiinction Metria Essential for Analysis of Mass Biotic Crisis Events: An Elraniple from Cretaceous Ammonoidea C. J. Collom .................................................................................................................................................... 30 Deccan Volcanism at the Cretaceous-Terticuy Boundary V. Courtillot, D. Vandamme, J. Besse, and J. J. Jaeger ........................................................................... 31 Global Environmental Effects of Impact-Generated Aerosols: Results from a General Circulation Model C. Covey, S. J. Ghan, and P. R. Weissrnan ................................................................................................. 33 Noble Metals itt Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanism: A Significant Fmctionation of Gold with Respect to Platinum Group Metals J. H. Crocket................................................................................................................................................... 34 Abtupt Climate Change and Extinction Events T. J. Crowley ................................................................................................................................................... 36 Explosive Volcanism, Shock Metamorphism and the K-T Boundary S. L. de Silva and V. L. Sharpton ................................................................................................................. 38 An Extended Cretaceous-Tertiary (KP)Stable Isotope Record: Implications for Paleoclimate and the Nature of the K/T Boundary Event S. D’Hondt and M. Lindinger ...................................................................................................................... 40 The Sudbury Stmcture (Ontario, Canada) and Vredefort Stmcture (South Africa) -A Comparison B. 0. Dressler and W. U. Reimold .............................................................................................................. 42 Proterozoic Bushveld-Vredefort Catastrophe: Possible Causes and Consequences W. E. Elston and D. Twist ............................................................................................................................ 44 Rocks, Resolution, and the Record at the Terrestrial K/T Boundary, Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota D. E. Fastovsky............................................................................................................................................... 46 Iridium Emissions fiom Hawaiian Volcanoes D. L. Finnegan, W. H. Zoller, and T. M. Miller ........................................................................................ 48 The Impact of Mass Extinctions K. W. Flessa .................................................................................................................................................... 49 Volcanism, Global Catastrophe and Mass Mortality P. W. Francis and K. Burke .......................................................................................................................... 50 Geological Remote Sensing Signatures of Terrestrial Impact Craters J. B. Gamin, C. Schnetzler, and R. A. F. Grieve ....................................................................................... 52 The Frasnian-Famennian Mass Killing Event(s), Methods of Iakntification and Evaluation H. H. J. Geldsetzer ........................................................................................................................................ 54 Evidence for a Single Impact at the Cretaceous-TertiaryBoundary from Trace Elements I. Gilmour and E. Anders ............................................................................................................................. 56 vi Nitrogen Geochemistry of a Cretaceous-TertiaryBoundary Site in New Zealand I. Gilmour and S. R. Boyd ...........................................................................................................................