Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane

Details Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane

Apr 1984

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984natur.308..709r&link_type=abstract

Nature (ISSN 0028-0836), vol. 308, April 19, 1984, p. 709-712.

Mathematics

Logic

146

Biological Evolution, Comets, Extinction, Impact Damage, Solar Position, Solar System, Craters, Time Series Analysis, Comets, Impacts, Sun, Motion, Earth, Extinction, Periodicity, Analysis, Time Scale, Oscillations, Solar System, Dust Clouds, Perturbations, Flux, Ages, Distribution, Hypotheses, Collisions

Scientific paper

Episodes of mass extinctions on the Earth are now strongly suspected to be cyclical. The authors report an analysis of the data of Raup and Sepkoski suggesting that the dominant cyclicity in major marine mass extinctions during at least the past 250 Myr is 30±1 Myr, with the standard deviation of an individual episode being ±9 Myr. They find this terrestrial cycle to be strongly correlated with the time needed for the Solar System to oscillate vertically about the plane of the Galaxy, which is 33±3 Myr according to the best current astronomical evidence. It is argued that galactic triggering or forcing of terrestrial biological crises may arise as a result of collisions (or close encounters) of the Solar System with interstellar clouds of gas and dust, which are sufficiently concentrated towards the galactic plane to produce the observed cyclicity and its scatter. A dominant cyclicity of 31±1 Myr is found in the observed age distribution of impact craters on Earth, the phase of this cycle agreeing with that shown by the major biological crises.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane 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 Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1500649