Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T10:00:08.671Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The galactic cycle of extinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2008

Michael Gillman  and
Hilary Erenler
Michael Gillman
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK e-mail: m.p.gillman@open.ac.uk; erenlerh@edgehill.ac.uk
Hilary Erenler
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK e-mail: m.p.gillman@open.ac.uk; erenlerh@edgehill.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Global extinction and geological events have previously been linked with galactic events such as spiral arm crossings and galactic plane oscillation. The expectation that these are repeating predictable events has led to studies of periodicity in a wide set of biological, geological and climatic phenomena. Using data on carbon isotope excursions, large igneous provinces and impact craters, we identify three time zones of high geological activity which relate to the timings of the passage of the Solar System through the spiral arms. These zones are shown to include a significantly large proportion of high extinction periods. The mass extinction events at the ends of the Ordovician, Permian and Cretaceous occur in the first zone, which contains the predicted midpoints of the spiral arms. The start of the Cambrian, end of the Devonian and end of the Triassic occur in the second zone. The pattern of extinction timing in relation to spiral arm structure is supported by the positions of the superchrons and the predicted speed of the spiral arms. The passage times through an arm are simple multiples of published results on impact and fossil record periodicity and galactic plane half-periods. The total estimated passage time through four arms is 703.8 Myr. The repetition of extinction events at the same points in different spiral arm crossings suggests a common underlying galactic cause of mass extinctions, mediated through galactic effects on geological, solar and extra-solar processes. The two largest impact craters (Sudbury and Vredefort), predicted to have occurred during the early part of the first zone, extend the possible pattern to more than 2000 million years ago.

Keywords

carbon isotope excursioncomet impactlarge igneous provincemass extinctionspiral armsuperchron
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 17 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bambach, R.K. (2006). Phanerozoic biodiversity mass extinctions. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 34, 127–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bienayme, O., Soubiran, C., Mishenina, T.V., Kovtyukh, V.V. & Siebert, A. (2006). Vertical distribution of Galactic disk stars – III. The Galactic disk surface mass density from red clump giants. Astron. Astrophys. 446, 933–942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gies, D.R. & Helsel, J.W. (2005). Ice age epochs and the Sun's path through the Galaxy. Astrophys. J. 626, 844–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goncharov, G.N. & Orlov, V.V. (2003). Global repeating events in the history of the Earth and the motion of the Sun in the Galaxy. Astron. Reports 47, 925–933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haq, B.U., Hardenbol, J. & Vail, P. (1987). Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the Triassic. Science 235, 1156–1167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isley, A.E. & Abbott, D.H. (2002). Implications of the temporal distribution of high-Mg magma for mantle plume volcanism through time. J. Geology 110, 141–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, J.-J. & Hartenberger, J.-L. (1989). Diversification and extinction patterns among Neogene perimediterranean mammals. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. 325, 401–420.Google ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, A.J., Corsetti, F.A. & Varni, M.A. (2007). The effect of rising atmospheric oxygen on carbon and sulphur isotope anomalies in the Neoproterozoic Johnnie Formation, Death Valley, U.S.A. Chemical Geology, 237, 47–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemp, D.B., Coe, A.L., Cohen, A.S. & Schwark, L. (2005). Astronomical pacing of methane release in the Early Jurassic period. Nature 437, 396–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leitch, E.M. & Vasisht, G. (1998). Mass extinctions and the Sun's encounters with spiral arms. New Astronomy 3, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A.R., Marchant, D.R., Ashworth, A.C., Hemming, S.R. & Machlus, M.L. (2007). Major middle Miocene global climate change: evidence from East Antarctica and the Transantarctic mountains. GSA Bulletin 119, 1449–1460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcos de la Fuente, R. & Marcos de la Fuente, C. (2004). On the correlation between the recent star formation rate in the Solar Neighbourhood and the glaciation period record on Earth. New Astronomy 10, 53–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medvedev, M.V. & Melott, A.L. (2007). Do extragalactic cosmic rays induce cycles in fossil diversity? Astrophys. J. 664, 879–889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naoz, S. & Shaviv, N.J. (2007). Open cluster birth analysis and multiple spiral arm sets in the Milky Way. New Astronomy 12, 410–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Napier, W.M. (2006). Evidence for cometary bombardment episodes. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 366, 977–982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nurmi, P., Valtonen, M.J. & Zheng, J.Q. (2001). Periodic variation of Oort cloud flux and cometary impacts on the Earth and Jupiter. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 327, 1367–1376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlov, V. & Gallet, Y. (2005). A third superchron during the early Paleozoic. Episodes 28, 78–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prokoph, A., Ernst, R.E. and Buchan, K.L. (2004). Time series analysis of large igneous provinces: 3500 Ma to present. J. Geology 112, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rampino, M.R. & Stothers, R.B. (1984a). Terrestrial mass extinctions, cometary impacts and the Sun's motion perpendicular to the Galactic plane. Nature 308, 709–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rampino, M.R. & Stothers, R.B. (1984b). Geological rhythms and cometary impacts. Science 226, 1427–1431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rampino, M.R. & Stothers, R.B. (1988). Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years. Science 241, 663–668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raup, D.M. & Sepkoski, J.J. (1982). Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record. Science 215, 1501–1503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raup, D.M. & Sepkoski, J.J. (1984). Periodicity of extinctions in the geological past. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A. 81, 801–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohde, R.A. & Muller, R.A. (2005). Cycles in fossil diversity. Nature 434, 208–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaviv, N.J. (2003). The spiral structure of the Milky Way, cosmic rays, and ice age epochs on Earth. New Astronomy 8, 39–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stothers, R.B. (2006). The period dichotomy in terrestrial impact crater ages. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 365, 175–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svensmark, H. (2006). Imprint of galactic dynamics on Earth's climate. Astron. Nachr. 327, 866–870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, B.C. et al. (2005). Gamma-ray bursts and the Earth: exploration of atmospheric, biological, climatic and biogeochemical effects. Astrophys. J. 634, 509–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vallée, J.P. (2005). Spiral arms and inter-arm separation. Astrophys. J. 130, 569–575.Google Scholar
Veizer, J., Goddaris, Y. & Francois, L.M. (2000). Evidence for decoupling of atmospheric CO2 and global climate during the Phanerozoic eon. Nature 408, 698–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wendler, J. (2004). External forcing of the geomagnetic field? Implications for the cosmic ray flux – climate variability. J. Atmos. Solar-Terres. Phys. 66, 1195–1203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar