• DOI:10.1080/08912963.2020.1849178
• Corpus ID: 230580480

A 27.5-My underlying periodicity detected in extinction episodes of non-marine tetrapods

@article{Rampino2020A2U,
  title={A 27.5-My underlying periodicity detected in extinction episodes of non-marine tetrapods},
  author={Michael R. Rampino and Ken Caldeira and Yuhong Zhu},
  journal={Historical Biology},
  year={2020},
  volume={33},
  pages={3084 - 3090}
}

• M. Rampino, K. Caldeira, Yuhong Zhu
• Published 10 December 2020
• Environmental Science, Geography
• Historical Biology

ABSTRACT Non-marine tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have apparently experienced at least 10 distinct episodes of intensified extinctions over the past 300 My. Eight of these ten non-marine extinction events are concurrent with known marine-extinction episodes, which previously yielded evidence for an underlying period of ~26.4 to 27.3 My. We performed circular spectral analysis and Fourier transform analysis of the ages of the ten recognised tetrapod-extinction events, and detected a statistically significant (99% confidence) underlying periodicity of ~27.5 My. We also find that the eight coeval non-marine/marine-extinction pulses all occurred at the times of eruptions of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) (continental flood-basalts and oceanic plateaus), with potentially severe environmental effects. Three of these co-extinction episodes are further correlated with the ages of the three largest (≥100-km diameter) impact craters of the last 260 My, which are also apparently capable of causing extinction events. These findings suggest that global cataclysmal events with an underlying periodicity of ~27.5 My were the cause of the coordinated periodic extinction episodes of non-marine tetrapods and marine organisms.