Raup D M
Department of the Geological Sciences, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637.
Paleobiology. 1992 Winter;18(1):80-8. doi: 10.1017/s0094837300012227.
The kill curve for Phanerozoic marine species is used to investigate large-body impact as a cause of species extinction. Current estimates of Phanerozoic impact rates are combined with the kill curve to produce an impact-kill curve, which predicts extinction levels from crater diameter, on the working assumption that impacts are responsible for all "pulsed" extinctions. By definition, pulsed extinction includes the approximately 60% of Phanerozoic extinctions that occurred in short-lived events having extinction rates greater than 5%. The resulting impact-kill curve is credible, thus justifying more thorough testing of the impact-extinction hypothesis. Such testing is possible but requires an exhaustive analysis of radiometric dating of Phanerozoic impact events.
显生宙海洋物种的致死曲线用于研究大天体撞击作为物种灭绝的一个原因。将当前对显生宙撞击率的估计与致死曲线相结合，得出撞击致死曲线，该曲线在撞击导致所有“脉冲式”灭绝这一工作假设的基础上，根据陨石坑直径预测灭绝水平。根据定义，脉冲式灭绝包括显生宙灭绝事件中约60%发生在灭绝率大于5%的短期事件中的情况。由此得出的撞击致死曲线是可信的，从而证明对撞击灭绝假说进行更全面的检验是合理的。这样的检验是可行的，但需要对显生宙撞击事件的放射性定年进行详尽分析。
