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Project Progress

We published a study (in Earth and Planetary Science Letters by Ward, Garrison, Haggart, Kring, and Beattie) outlining the carbon isotope record, sedimentation, and biostratigraphy at the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction boundary preserved in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada.

We published a study (in Journal of Geophysical Research by Kring and Durda) that determined the ignition threshold for impact-generated fires.

We published a study (in Palaios by Bailey, Cohen, and Kring) of the effects of impact-generated acid rain produced by the Chicxulub impact event at the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction boundary.

We published a study (in Meteoritics and Planetary Science by Cohen, Swindle, and Kring) that investigated the impact bombardment of the Earth-Moon system ~3.9 billion years ago, which may have affected the origin and early evolution of life on Earth.

We published a study (in Origins: Genesis, Evolution and Diversity of Life by Campins, Swindle, and Kring) that discusses the origin of Earth’s water, a critical ingredient for life on Earth.

We have a paper in press (in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology by Ward, Garrison, Kring, and Goodwin) that desribes the biologic, isotopic, and sedimentological changes that occur at the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction boundary exposed in Muller Canyon, Nevada.

We have a paper in press (by Strom, Malhotra, Ito, Yoshida, and Kring) that confirms an earlier result (in Journal of Geosphysical Research by Kring and Cohen) that indicates the Earth-Moon system was severely bombarded by asteroids (not comets) approximately 3.9 billion years ago, which may have affected the origin and early evolution of life on Earth.

We submitted an invited review (to Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology by Kring) of the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event.

We submitted a paper (Patzer, Kring, Goodwin, Ward, and Haggart) with a petrologic analysis of sediments deposited at the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction boundary, Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada. We argued that the basin represented by the rocks was relatively shallow (albeit it with euxinic bottom waters) and adjacent to a magmatic arc. We did not detect any shocked quartz and suggested that mechanisms other than impact should be explored as the cause of the mass extinction.

We are preparing a paper with a complete summary of our analyses of the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada.