Abstract
In 1978 as chairman of the Geology and Geography Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) I planned a program for the 1980 annual convention in San Franscisco, California. The 1980 program included Louis W. Alvarez (1911–1988) who reported that an asteroid 10 kilometers in diameter struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous. This conclusion resulted from Alvarez and colleagues discovery in Gubbio, Europe, of a centimeter-thick clay layer among carbonate rock containing iridium, a siderophile element, at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Involvement in this discussion stimulated my interest in the study of Taconic carbonate deposits of my home and university setting in the Troy, New York and contiguous areas dating to the base of the Cambrian. Analyses of the New York carbonate samples gave comparable iridium results to those from the end of the Cretaceous in Europe. From these iridium anomalies I concluded that an extraterrestrial source, namely an asteroid, produced the iridium anomalies in the Cambrian of New York.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.