K-T Boundary:

Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary is the formerly term of the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg)

boundary as 'Tertiary' (abbreviated as T), that is now discouraged as a formal geochronological
unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy [Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.;
Smith, Alan G., eds. (2004)].

K-T boundary is a geological signature, usually a thin band of rock and the K, the first letter of
the German word Kreide (chalk) which is the traditional abbreviation of the Cretaceous period
and Pg is the abbreviation for the Paleogene Period. The KT boundary is characterized by the last
major mass extinction in Earth history that saw the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs along with
50% to 60% of the Earth fauna and flora.

Significance of K-T Boundary:

Almost all the large vertebrates on Earth, on land, at sea, and in the air (all dinosaurs, plesiosaurs,
mosasaurs, and pterosaurs) suddenly became extinct about 65 Ma, at the end of the Cretaceous
Period. At the same time, most plankton and many tropical invertebrates, especially reef-dwellers,
became extinct, and many land plants were severely affected. This extinction event marks a major
boundary in Earth's history, the K-T or Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, and the end of the Mesozoic
Era (Cowen, R. 1994. History of Life).

The graph in following showing the mass extinction of animals and plants in K-T boundary.

Figure: Patterns of animal and plant family extinctions during Phanerozoic [Benton (1995)].
The Probable Causes of Dinosaur Extinction:
The most recent work on the K-T extinction has centered on two hypotheses that suggest a violent
end to the Cretaceous. They are a large asteroid impact and a giant volcanic eruption.

Impact extinction mechanisms:

A large impact caused rapid changes in environment that kill plants and animals in large numbers
world-wide. The major consequences of collision of 10-km diameter asteroid on the Earth's surface
which are the probable causes of mass extinction are summarized as follows:
1. Darkness:
The darkness is produced by fine dust and soot particles by spreading world-wide in the upper
atmosphere and sunlight completely cutting out for a few months after the impact.
This would affect photosynthesis and initiate a collapse in food chains causing death to many
groups of organisms by starving. For instance, major groups such as most or all dinosaurs that
became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Marine planktonic and nektonic organisms, and
benthic filter feeders were extinct as they tied in food chains directly with living plants. Organisms
that are less affected by extinction are marine benthic scavengers, deposit feeders, and small
insectivorous mammals because they are dependent upon dead-plant material in food chain.
2. Cold:
The darkness along with extreme cold would produce by dust especially in continental interiors
far from the moderating influence of oceans. Continental surface temperatures would fall to -20 °
C within two or three months.

Figure: Change in terrestrial surface temperature [Modified after Toon (1984)].

3. Increased Greenhouse Effect:
Both dust and water vapor would be spread into the atmosphere if an asteroid collided in the ocean.
Fallout calculations indicate that after the dust settles, water vapor will remain in the upper
atmosphere and that produced an enhanced greenhouse effect and that could raise surface
temperatures well in excess of the tolerance limits of many terrestrial organisms.
4. Acid Rain:
Energy liberated during the impact may cause atmospheric gases to react, producing nitric acid
and various nitrogen oxides. Hence, another side effect of an impact bearing on extinctions is the
possibility of a nitric acid rain. These acid rains could last as long as a year and would lower the
pH of surface water in the upper 100 m sufficiently to kill a large number of planktonic organisms.
5. Wildfires:
Soot particles were found in clays at the K/T boundary which indicates that K/T boundary may be
the result of widespread wildfires ignited by infrared radiation from the initial impact. Studies of
the soot particles indicate that they come chiefly from the burning of coniferous forests.

6. Toxic Seawater:
Asteroid collision should also result in the introduction of a wide variety of trace elements, many
of which are toxic, into the oceans (such as Hg, Se, Pb, and Cd). Organisms living in surface
marine waters would be exposed to prolonged concentrations of these toxic elements, contributing
perhaps to their extinctions.

Evidences of A Large Asteroid Impact:

Over most of the world, this stratigraphic interval is composed of thick clay layer of mm to cm
containing evidence of a large-scale asteroid or comet impact on Earth. The impact markers are-

1. Iridium Layer:

The KT clays contain a significant enrichment in platinum group elements (Pt, Ir, Os, Rh, Ru,
Pd), better known as the KT Iridium peak, amounting to several tens of ppb (parts per billion).

This enrichment of Iridium in worldwide in K-T boundary (Alvarez et al., 1990) is clearly
indicative of a meteoritic or extraterrestrial contribution to the sedimentation as Iridium is rare
on the Earth surface.
 Figure: Iridium Layer in K-T Boundary.

Impact iridium, which is very volatile, would have been injected into the stratosphere and spread
over the globe that gradually settled out in dust particles over a few months.
2. Glass Spherules:
Spherules are glassy droplets which tenths to a few millimeters in diameter. It is composed of
felsic composition, commonly found in K/T boundary clays (Maurrasse and Sen, 1991). Impact
glasses with diameters up to a few centimeters found on the Earth, by rapid chilling as they are
thrown into the atmosphere, the small spherules at the K/T boundary appear to have formed by
melting of crustal rocks.

3. Soot:
Soot are the small carbonaceous particles which are also widespread in K/T boundary clays and
may be the remains of widespread wildfires which spread through forests. (Wolbach et al., 1985).
4. Shocked Quartz:
Shocked Quartz is one of the strongest evidences for impact and it had been found widespread in
K/T boundary clays (Bohor et al., 1987; Hildebrand et al., 1991). Shock lamellae in quartz are
easily identified and are produced by a high-pressure shock wave passing through the rock. Such
shocked quartz is common around nuclear weapon test sites and around well-documented impact
sites such as Meteor Crater in Arizona.
5. Stishovite:
Stishovite is a high-pressure polymorph of silica formed during impact and has been found in the
K/T boundary layer clay (McHone et al., 1989). Like shocked quartz, it has only been reported at
known impact and nuclear explosion sites.
Comparison of impact and volcanic models for K-T boundary
extinctions:

Evidences Impact Volcanic Eruption

Ir anomaly Yes: asteroid Possible, but not likely

Possibly: comet

Glass spherules Yes: impact melts No: of local extent only

Shocked quartz Yes: common at impact No

sites
Stishovite
Yes: found at some impact No
sites
Soot
Yes: from widespread fires No: fires only local

Yes
Worldwide distribution of No
evidence

Acceptable: accounts for

Summary all observational Rejected: cannot explain
Evidence shocked quartz, stishovite,
or soot

In the table, the various evidences for impact are compared with Volcanic eruption to explain the
K/T extinctions. Although it would appear that both impact and volcanic causes can explain the Ir
anomalies, only impact can readily account for the wide distribution of glass spherules and soot,
and the presence of shocked quartz and stishovite.

These are the evidences that indicates that the Mass extinction or the extinction of Dinosaurs is
caused by the extraterrestrial impact. However, the numerous extinctions which occurred in a short
period of time 66 Ma seem to require a catastrophic cause. Substantial evidence supports an extra-
terrestrial impact at the K-T boundary, but the causes, timing, and extent of the associated mass
extinction remain unclear.
References:
1. Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Smith, Alan G., eds. (2004). A geologic time scale
2004. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

2. Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution Fourth edition Kent C. Condie New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology,Socorro, New Mexico.
3. The K-T extinction by Richard cowen.

4. Stratigraphy. 2012. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-12-18

5. Renne; et al. (2013). "Time Scales of Critical Events Around the cretaceous

Paleogene Boundary.

6. Cowen, R. 1994. History of Life.

7. Maurrasse and Sen, 1991.

8. McHone et al., 1989.

9. Bohor et al., 1987; Hildebrand et al., 1991.

10. Wolbach et al., 1985.