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Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions
dc.contributor.author | Fields, Brian D. | |
dc.contributor.author | Melott, Adrian L. | |
dc.contributor.author | Ellis, John | |
dc.contributor.author | Ertel, Adrienne F. | |
dc.contributor.author | Fry, Brian J. | |
dc.contributor.author | Lieberman, Bruce S. | |
dc.contributor.author | Liu, Zhenghai | |
dc.contributor.author | Miller, Jesse A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Thomas, Brian C. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-11-10T15:43:19Z | |
dc.date.available | 2020-11-10T15:43:19Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2020-08-18 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Fields, B. D., Melott, A. L., Ellis, J., Ertel, A. F., Fry, B. J., Lieberman, B. S., Liu, Z., Miller, J. A., & Thomas, B. C. (2020). Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(35), 21008–21010. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013774117 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1808/30816 | |
dc.description | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | The Late Devonian was a protracted period of low speciation resulting in biodiversity decline, culminating in extinction events near the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary. Recent evidence indicates that the final extinction event may have coincided with a dramatic drop in stratospheric ozone, possibly due to a global temperature rise. Here we study an alternative possible cause for the postulated ozone drop: a nearby supernova explosion that could inflict damage by accelerating cosmic rays that can deliver ionizing radiation for up to ∼100 ky. We therefore propose that the end-Devonian extinctions were triggered by supernova explosions at ∼20pc, somewhat beyond the “kill distance” that would have precipitated a full mass extinction. Such nearby supernovae are likely due to core collapses of massive stars; these are concentrated in the thin Galactic disk where the Sun resides. Detecting either of the long-lived radioisotopes Sm146 or Pu244 in one or more end-Devonian extinction strata would confirm a supernova origin, point to the core-collapse explosion of a massive star, and probe supernova nucleosynthesis. Other possible tests of the supernova hypothesis are discussed. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | UK Science and Technology Facilities Council | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | Estonian Research Council | en_US |
dc.publisher | National Academy of Sciences | en_US |
dc.rights | Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. | en_US |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | en_US |
dc.subject | Extinction | en_US |
dc.subject | Supernova | en_US |
dc.subject | Cosmic rays | en_US |
dc.subject | Ozone | en_US |
dc.subject | Isotope geology | en_US |
dc.title | Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
kusw.kuauthor | Melott, Adrian L. | |
kusw.kudepartment | Physics and Astronomy | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1073/pnas.2013774117 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4188-7141 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7399-0813 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3876-2057 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4353-7874 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8056-2526 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5071-0412 | en_US |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9091-0830 | en_US |
kusw.oaversion | Scholarly/refereed, publisher version | en_US |
kusw.oapolicy | This item meets KU Open Access policy criteria. | en_US |
dc.identifier.pmid | PMC7474607 | en_US |
dc.rights.accessrights | openAccess | en_US |