An ∼60-Million-Year Periodicity Is Common to Marine⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, Fossil Biodiversity, and Large-Scale Sedimentation: What Does the Periodicity Reflect?

Abstract

We find that the marine 87 Sr/ 86 Sr record shows a significant periodicity of 59.3 ± 3 Myr. The 87 Sr/ 86 Sr record is 171° ± 12°out of phase with a 62 (± 3) Myr periodicity previously reported in the record of marine-animal diversity. These periodicities are close to 58 (± 4) Myr cycles found for the number of gap-bounded sedimentary carbonate packages of North America We propose that these periodicities reflect the operation of a periodic "pulse of the Earth" in large-scale, Earth processes. These may be linked to mantle or plate-tectonic events, possibly uplift, which affects Earth's climate and oceans, and so the geochemistry, sedimentation, and biodiversity of the marine realm.

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union Volume 94, Number 12, 19 March 2013

“…In addition, the discovery of the 62-million-year cycle in the marine strontium-and sulfur-isotope records [Melott et al, 2012;Prokoph et al, 2013] supports the conclusion that the period is not the result of sampling, as proposed by Smith and McGowan [2005]. The three cycles seen in the LIP eruptions and fossil diversity are negatively correlated; that is, times of high production of lava are generally times of low fossil diversity.…”

“…For example, Rohde and Muller [2005] looked at the record of diversity of marine organisms over the past 540 million years and found evidence for two cycles in the dataa roughly 62-million-year cycle and a longer cycle of about 140 million years. This was followed by reports of an approximately 56-million-year cycle in long-term stratigraphic sequences in sedimentary basins [Meyers and Peters, 2011] and a 59-millionyear period in the marine strontium-isotope record [Melott et al, 2012]. A similar period may even exist in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 542 million years of the Phanerozoic [Franks et al, 2012].…”

Is the Solar System's Galactic Motion Imprinted in the Phanerozoic Climate?

“…As a side note, there is also evidence for a ~ 60 Ma periodicity in the literature373839404142. For example, Meyers & Peter38 find a 56 ± 3 Ma period in the sedimentation record, which can be explained as an orogenic oscillator or as oscillatory dynamics in the mantle convection.…”

Mass extinctions over the last 500 myr: an astronomical cause?

“…() similarly described a 62 ± 3 myr cycle, associated with cosmic rays; Melott & Bambach () noted a 62 myr cycle with the signal strength decreasing in time due to the accumulation of long‐lived genera; Melott & Bambach () favoured periodic sea‐level change or astronomical causes to explain that cycle; Melott et al . () linked the biotic data to a 59.3 ± 3 myr cycle in the strontium isotope record that may be associated with mantle or plate tectonic events; Melott & Bambach () calculated a 27 myr cycle that ruled out the influence of the distant Nemesis; finally in a recalibrated dataset with reference to the most recent geological timescale (Gradstein et al . ), 27 and 62 myr cycles have been detected shifting in and out of phase (Melott & Bambach , ).…”