Evidence for a Solar Flare Cause of the Pleistocene Mass Extinction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9245771 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul A LaViolette |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 303-323 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Radiocarbon (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0033822200056575 |
| OpenAlex | W2146744237 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 66 |
The hypothesis is presented that an abrupt rise in atmospheric radiocarbon concentration evident in the Cariaco Basin varve record at 12,837 ± 10 cal yr BP, contemporaneous with the Rancholabrean termination, may have been produced by a super-sized solar proton event (SPE) having a fluence of ~1.3 × 10 11 protons/cm 2 . A SPE of this magnitude would have been large enough to deliver a lethal radiation dose of at least 3–6 Sv to the Earth's surface, and hence could have been a principal cause of the final termination of the Pleistocene megafauna and several genera of smaller mammals and birds. The event time-correlates with a large-magnitude acidity spike found at 1708.65 m in the GISP2 Greenland ice record, which is associated with high NO -3 ion concentrations and a rapid rise in 10 Be deposition rate, all of which are indicators of a sudden cosmicray influx. The depletion of nitrate ions within this acidic ice layer suggests that the snowpack surface at that time was exposed to intense UV for a prolonged period, which is consistent with a temporary destruction of the polar ozone layer by solar cosmic rays. The acidity event also coincides with a large-magnitude, abrupt climatic excursion and is associated with elevated ammonium ion concentrations, an indicator of global fires
Atmospheric sciences · Extinction event · Ice core · Ozone layer · Radiocarbon dating · Stratosphere · Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer · Environmental Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Radioactive contamination and transfer · Geology · Oceanography · Paleontology
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| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2019 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |