RESUMO
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis contends that an extraterrestrial object exploded over North America at 12.9 ka, initiating the Younger Dryas cold event, the extinction of many North American megafauna, and the demise of the Clovis archeological culture. Although the exact nature and location of the proposed impact or explosion remain unclear, alleged evidence for the fallout comes from multiple sites across North America and a site in Belgium. At 6 of the 10 original sites (excluding the Carolina Bays), elevated concentrations of various "impact markers" were found in association with black mats that date to the onset of the Younger Dryas. Black mats are common features in paleowetland deposits and typically represent shallow marsh environments. In this study, we investigated black mats ranging in age from approximately 6 to more than 40 ka in the southwestern United States and the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. At 10 of 13 sites, we found elevated concentrations of iridium in bulk and magnetic sediments, magnetic spherules, and/or titanomagnetite grains within or at the base of black mats, regardless of their age or location, suggesting that elevated concentrations of these markers arise from processes common to wetland systems, and not a catastrophic extraterrestrial impact event.
Assuntos
Temperatura Baixa , Clima Desértico , Sedimentos Geológicos/análise , Áreas Alagadas , Animais , Bélgica , Radioisótopos de Carbono/análise , Chile , Planeta Terra , Ecossistema , Extinção Biológica , Geologia , Humanos , Irídio/análise , Imãs , Meteoroides , Modelos Teóricos , Solo/análise , Sudoeste dos Estados Unidos , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Lichen samples of Usnea barbata were used as possible biomonitors of the atmospheric background level of iridium (Ir), platinum (Pt) and rhodium (Rh) in the remote region of Tierra del Fuego (South Patagonia, Argentina). Lichens were collected in 2006 at 53 sites covering 7 different areas of the region (24 transplanted lichens of the northern region and 29 native lichen samples of the central-southern region). A microwave acidic digestion procedure was used to mineralize the samples and a sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method was developed to quantify the elements. The study of the influence of interferences on analyte signals and a quality control procedure were carried out. The analytical protocol was further applied to evaluate Ir, Pt and Rh bioaccumulation in lichens. The detection limits obtained were 0.010 ng g⻹, 0.013 ng g⻹ and 0.030 ng g⻹ for Ir, Pt and Rh, respectively. Recoveries at different fortification levels were between 96.3% and 106% and precision was 3.3% on average. The metals concentration (as dry weight) spanned the following ranges: Ir, <0.010-1.011 ng g⻹; Pt, 0.016-2.734 ng g⻹; and Rh, 0.063-1.298 ng g⻹. Data on 7 areas were similar suggesting that no specific source, for example traffic or anthropogenic activity, influenced directly the metal concentrations in Tierra del Fuego. Values detected are more likely influenced by the long-range atmospheric transport of these pollutants and, in comparison with densely populated areas in the world, they can represent the baseline for low impacted areas.
Assuntos
Poluentes Ambientais/análise , Irídio/análise , Líquens/química , Platina/análise , Ródio/análise , Argentina , Monitoramento AmbientalRESUMO
Restudy of Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 536 and 540 in the southeast Gulf of Mexico gives evidence for a giant wave at Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary time. Five units are recognized: (1) Cenomanian limestone underlies a hiatus in which the five highest Cretaceous stages are missing, possibly because of catastrophic K-T erosion. (2) Pebbly mudstone, 45 m thick, represents a submarine landslide possibly of K-T age. (3) Current-bedded sandstone, more than 2.5 m thick, contains anomalous iridium, tektite glass, and shocked quartz; it is interpreted as ejecta from a nearby impact crater, reworked on the deep-sea floor by the resulting tsunami. (4) A 50-cm interval of calcareous mudstone containing small Cretaceous planktic foraminifera and the Ir peak is interpreted as the silt-size fraction of the Cretaceous material suspended by the impact-generated wave. (5) Calcareous mudstone with basal Tertiary forams and the uppermost tail of the Ir anomaly overlies the disturbed interval, dating the impact and wave event as K-T boundary age. Like Beloc in Haiti and Mimbral in Mexico, Sites 536 and 540 are consistent with a large K-T age impact at the nearby Chicxulub crater.