Comet showers as a cause of mass extinctions

Piet Hut; Walter Alvarez; William P. Elder; Thor Hansen; Erle G. Kauffman; Gerta Keller; Eugene M. Shoemaker; Paul R. Weissman

doi:10.1038/329118a0

Comet showers as a cause of mass extinctions

Piet Hut, Walter Alvarez, William P. Elder, Thor Hansen, Erle G. Kauffman, Gerta Keller, Eugene M. Shoemaker, Paul R. Weissman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

189 Scopus citations

Abstract

If at least some mass extinctions are caused by impacts, why do they extend over intervals of one to three million years and have a partly stepwise character? The solution may be provided by multiple cometary impacts. Astronomical, geological and palaeontological evidence is consistent with a causal connection between comet showers, clusters of impact events and stepwise mass extinctions, but it is too early to tell how pervasive this relationship may be.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	118-126
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nature
Volume	329
Issue number	6135
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/329118a0
State	Published - 1987

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abstract = "If at least some mass extinctions are caused by impacts, why do they extend over intervals of one to three million years and have a partly stepwise character? The solution may be provided by multiple cometary impacts. Astronomical, geological and palaeontological evidence is consistent with a causal connection between comet showers, clusters of impact events and stepwise mass extinctions, but it is too early to tell how pervasive this relationship may be.",

author = "Piet Hut and Walter Alvarez and Elder, {William P.} and Thor Hansen and Kauffman, {Erle G.} and Gerta Keller and Shoemaker, {Eugene M.} and Weissman, {Paul R.}",

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AU - Hut, Piet

AU - Alvarez, Walter

AU - Elder, William P.

AU - Hansen, Thor

AU - Kauffman, Erle G.

AU - Keller, Gerta

AU - Shoemaker, Eugene M.

AU - Weissman, Paul R.

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AB - If at least some mass extinctions are caused by impacts, why do they extend over intervals of one to three million years and have a partly stepwise character? The solution may be provided by multiple cometary impacts. Astronomical, geological and palaeontological evidence is consistent with a causal connection between comet showers, clusters of impact events and stepwise mass extinctions, but it is too early to tell how pervasive this relationship may be.

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Comet showers as a cause of mass extinctions

Abstract

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