Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the End-Pliocene Supernova.

@article{Melott2019HypothesisMR,
  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={2019},
  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… Expand
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