KT Boundary

[N.Monks@xxxxxxxxx (Neale Monks)]

Markus wrote:

>But an asteroid impact as the killer from above is FAR more attractive, of
>course, especially to the public and those who perpetuate this view
>despite all palaeontological evidence raised against it...    ;-)
>> There are still a lot of questions left.
>I agree, for instance "why didn't the impact harm other reptiles such as
>crocodiles and snakes?". They also show continuous evolution across the
>boundary. But perhaps I am bringing coals to Newcastle with this
>audience...
>
>Markus

Out of curiousity, has anyone compared the number of taxa that didn't just
march on through, but actually radiated through the KT boundary? It seems
to me that we can all name so many off the tops of our collective
heads...bony fish, nautiloids, coleoids, frogs, insects, flowering
plants...does the term mass extinction *really* mean anything? How does the
KT compare with, say, background turnover...or variations in preservation
potential of fossils...?

Probably a dumb question...

Neale.


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Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD
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