Cretaceous Extinctions: The Volcanic Hypothesis

摘要

In their review "the chicxulub aster-oid impact and mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary" (5 March, p. 1214), P. Schulte et al. conclude that "the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction." However, the Review does not give sufficient and accurate consideration to the volcanic hypothesis. The authors claim that for Chicxulub, "the extremely rapid injection rate of dust and climate-forcing gases would have magnified the environmental consequences compared with more-prolonged volcanic eruptions."