Asteroid breakup linked to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Schmitz, Birger; Harper, David A. T.; Peucker‐Ehrenbrink, Bernhard; Stouge, Svend; Alwmark, C.; Cronholm, Anders; Bergström, Stig M.; Tassinari, Mario; Wang, Xiaofeng

doi:10.1038/ngeo.2007.37

Cited by 151 publications

(130 citation statements)

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“…Our focus on skeletal chemistry does not by itself rule out hypotheses such as bolide facilitation of Ordovician radiation (Schmitz et al, 2008), although it highlights a specific pattern that such hypotheses must be able to explain. Nor does it rule out bottom-up proposals that link animal radiation to changing patterns of primary production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbonates in Skeleton-Poor Seas: New Insights From Cambrian and Ordovician Strata of Laurentia

Pruss¹,

Finnegan²,

Fischer³

et al. 2010

PALAIOS

117

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbonates in Skeleton-Poor Seas: New Insights From Cambrian and Ordovician Strata of Laurentia

Pruss¹,

Finnegan²,

Fischer³

et al. 2010

PALAIOS

117

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“…Small 'sheet-like' structures ('mini mounds' sensu Lindström et al 1991) and fold structures (= 'buckled beds' of Lindström et al 1991) characterize the middle part of the Puxi member (Lindström et al 1991, Zhang 1996. Schmitz et al (2008) recorded high concentrations of L-chondrites in the middle member from the Puxihe section; the concentration of L-chondrites is found within the Lenodus variabilis and Yangtzeplacognathus crassus conodont zones of Zhang (1998).…”

Section: Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, another cause may be the explanation for the high diversity. Schmitz et al (2008) recorded a high concentration of extraterrestrial chromites, representing meteorites, from this interval in the Yichang area. The cromites were interpreted to be the product of the largest disruption in the asteroid belt and considered possible triggers for the Middle Ordovician biodiversification of shelled invertebrates (Schmitz et al 2008).…”

Section: Darriwilian Diversification: Extraterrestrial Cause Of the Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Ordovician conodont faunas of the Yichang Region are known from mainly four closely spaced sections: the Huanghuachang, Chenjiahe, Puxihe, and Fenxiang sections ( Fig. 1) , Lindström et al 1991, Schmitz et al 2008, Zhang 1999. Generally, the yield of conodonts from these sections is high, but research on conodonts from the sections is not yet completed (Stouge et al in prep.…”

Section: Geography and Geology Of The Yichang Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lower and Middle Ordovician conodont diversity of the Yichang Region, Hubei Province, Central China

Wu¹,

Stouge²,

Li³

et al. 2010

Bull. Geosci.

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A survey on the (palaeo-) diversity of the Lower and Middle Ordovician conodont faunas from the Yichang Region, Hubei Province, Central China is presented. Analysis of the number of species through time shows the species richness is cyclical developed in the succession -varying from low to high. One major conodont diversity peak is recorded in the mid to late Floian Stage (Oepikodus evae Zone, stage slice Fl 2, Lower Ordovician), where 33 species are recorded in the lower unit of the Dawan Formation. A smaller but second high diversity is found in the Darriwilian Stage (Lenodus variabilis Zone; stage slice Da 2, Middle Ordovician) with a maximum of 23 species. Secondary, smaller diversification maxima are present in the early Tremadocian, late Tremadocian, early Dapingian and late Darriwilian stages. Current information on acritarchs, brachiopods, and trilobites shows that the highest diversity maximum of conodonts corresponds to a similar high in brachiopod diversity, whereas acritarch and trilobite maximum diversity appear after the conodonts/brachiopods in the region.•

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“…Clearly, both organization processes must occur in a biorelevant environment, that is, a wet milieu, and both are energyconsuming. Interestingly, a hostile planetary environment such as the primitive Earth, subject to rapid changes, including but not limited to volcanic and hydrothermal activity, 3 acidic atmosphere, and virtually planet-sterilizing meteorite impacts, 4 favors precisely the conditions necessary for the formation of first ordered structures, regarded as possible starting points of biological evolution. In recent laboratory experiments we found evidence for the establishment of nanoscopic crystalline interfacial water layers on hydrogenated nanocrystalline diamond at room temperature.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genesis on Diamonds

Sommer

Zhu

Fecht

2008

Crystal Growth & Design

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ABSTRACT:The scientific community paid little attention to a visionary paper, in which Szent-Györgyi predicted that crystalline interfacial water layers would play a fundamental role in biology and evolution. It was 1971, and the proof of the existence of crystalline interfacial water layers at room temperature was virtually lacking in the literature. Recently, we provided experimental evidence for their existence on hydrogenated nanocrystalline diamond at room temperature. Crystallinity resulted from a decrease in conductance in response to an increase in humidity, associated with a decrease in the order of the interfacial water molecules implicated in proton conductivity. The correlation between conductance and humidity is not exclusive to synthetic diamond: It prevails on hydrogenated natural diamonds. Hydrogenation in nature is plausible: Volcanoes emit various hot gases including hydrogen. The capacity of interfacial water layers to impose order was exposed in the process of formation of supercubane carbon nanocrystals. It is important that the order imposed to molecules landing on hydrogenated diamond is more durable and superior to that realizable on any other origin of life platform, for instance, graphite. Hydrogenated diamond advances to the best of all possible origin of life platforms.The emergence of bioorganic molecules under primitive Earth conditions is one of the major unsolved origin of life questions. The principal problem is to identify physical and chemical conditions that are favorable for the formation of life precursor structures. 1 Panspermia tries to circumvent the problem by assuming that primitive life forms, such as bacteria, have arrived on Earth from space, as star dust or via comets. 2 Origin of life models starting with a primordial soup work from two assumptions, which do not exclude each other: chemistry, which could trigger the self-assembly of abiotic organic compounds, and transfer of order from preexistent orderings. Clearly, both organization processes must occur in a biorelevant environment, that is, a wet milieu, and both are energyconsuming. Interestingly, a hostile planetary environment such as the primitive Earth, subject to rapid changes, including but not limited to volcanic and hydrothermal activity, 3 acidic atmosphere, and virtually planet-sterilizing meteorite impacts, 4 favors precisely the conditions necessary for the formation of first ordered structures, regarded as possible starting points of biological evolution. In recent laboratory experiments we found evidence for the establishment of nanoscopic crystalline interfacial water layers on hydrogenated nanocrystalline diamond at room temperature. 5 The circumstance that water adsorbed from the air becomes crystalline at room temperature attracted in fact more attention than the revelation of the implication of this water in the surface conductivity of hydrogenated diamond, a new feature in the 20-year-old puzzle. 6 The report of our results triggered an intense discussion on the implications of water in the ...

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Asteroid breakup linked to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Cited by 151 publications

References 26 publications

Carbonates in Skeleton-Poor Seas: New Insights From Cambrian and Ordovician Strata of Laurentia

Carbonates in Skeleton-Poor Seas: New Insights From Cambrian and Ordovician Strata of Laurentia

Lower and Middle Ordovician conodont diversity of the Yichang Region, Hubei Province, Central China

Genesis on Diamonds

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