Calcareous Nannoplankton Shed Light On Mass Extinction And Recovery

A new study in Nature Geoscience suggests that an asteroid strike may not only account for the demise of ocean and land life 65 million years ago; the resulting dust, darkness and toxic metal contamination may also explain the geographic unevenness of extinctions and recovery. Using 823 samples from 17 drilling sites in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, researchers analyzed the community structure of calcareous nannoplankton. Included in their study were two sites -- one in the Pacific and one in the South Atlantic -- with reliable, accurate dating. read more

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