Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction?

Details Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction? Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction?

May 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aps..aprs10014t&link_type=abstract

American Physical Society, April Meeting, 2004, May 1-4, 2004, Denver, Colorado April 2004, MEETING ID: APR04, abstract #S10.014

Physics

Scientific paper

Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) produce a flux of radiation detectable across the observable Universe. A GRB within our own galaxy could do considerable damage to the Earth's biosphere; rate estimates suggest that a dangerously near GRB should occur on average one or more times per billion years. At least five times in the history of life, the Earth experienced mass extinctions that eliminated a large percentage of the biota. Many possible causes have been documented, and GRB may also have contributed. The late Ordovician mass extinction approximately 440 million years ago may at least partly be the result of a GRB. Due to severe depletion of the ozone layer, intense solar ultraviolet radiation is expected to result from a nearby GRB, and some of the patterns of extinction and survivorship at this time may be attributable to elevated levels of UV radiation reaching the Earth. In addition a GRB could trigger the global cooling which occurs at the end of the Ordovician period that follows an interval of relatively warm climate. The sudden glaciation had previously been identified as the probable cause of this mass extinction and we note that the intense rapid cooling that occurred at that time, which may have resulted from a GRB, also clearly played a very important role in driving the mass extinction.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Did a gamma-ray burst initiate the late Ordovician mass extinction? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1181048