Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the End-Pliocene Supernova.
@article{Melott2017HypothesisMR, title={Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the End-Pliocene Supernova.}, author={Adrian L. Melott and F. Marinho and Laura Paulucci}, journal={Astrobiology}, year={2017}, volume={19 6}, pages={ 825-830 } }
Considerable data and analysis support the detection of one or more supernovae (SNe) at a distance of about 50 pc, ∼2.6 million years ago. This is possibly related to the extinction event around that time and is a member of a series of explosions that formed the Local Bubble in the interstellar medium. We build on previous work, and propagate the muon flux from SN-initiated cosmic rays from the surface to the depths of the ocean. We find that the radiation dose from the muons will exceed the…
7 Citations
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