Was there a wildfire-induced, greenhouse warming pulse at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary? A US Gulf Coast perspective.

We are very pleased to welcome Professor Ken MacLeod, Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Missouri to present todays School Seminar.

Web Profile:  https://geology.missouri.edu/people/macleod

Title

Was there a wildfire-induced, greenhouse warming pulse at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary? A US Gulf Coast perspective.

Abstract

This presentation will consider whether a pulse of warming documented at a Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary site in Texas (USA) started within a few decades of the Chicxulub asteroid impact or occurred many millennia later. The K/Pg boundary event and mass extinction are natural experiments as to the response of Earth systems to environmental perturbations imposed faster than those that have occurred recently. Unfortunately, this rate means events occur much closer in time than can typically be resolved in the stratigraphic record. The Brazos River K/Pg sections may have high enough sedimentation rates in key intervals to test whether warming could have been caused by impact-induced wildfires.

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https://bristol-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/91496720433