New K/T boundary paper

[Phillip Bigelow <bh162@scn.org>]

For those of you who can't seem to get enough O' 'dat K/T boundary info,
here is what appears in the latest issue of _Geology_:

Kaiho, K, and M.A. Lamolda. 1999. Catastrophic extinction of planktonic
foraminifera at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary evidenced by stable
isotopes and foraminiferal abundance at Caravaca, Spain. Geology
27(4):355-358.

Kaiho and Lamolda attempt to dispel the possibility that there was a
gradual die-off of Cretaceous-aspect planktonic foraminifera both
beneath and just above the K/T boundary section in Spain.

Excerpt from their abstract:

"....These results indicate that post-K/T occurrences of Cretaceous
planktonic species in lower Danian sediments at Caravaca are the result
of reworking.  Rapid decreases in the percentage abundance of
well-preserved specimens and in the number of specimens per gram of
carbonate for the same 12 species at the K/T boundary also suggest
reworking and abrupt extinction at the K/T boundary.  Our data imply
that sudden changes occurred within the pelagic ecosystem during the K/T
boundary event."

                     <pb>