Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32989138›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020

Organic matter from the Chicxulub crater exacerbated the K-Pg impact winter.

Shelby L Lyons, A Tyler Karp, Timothy J Bralower, Kliti Grice, Bettina Schaefer, Sean P S Gulick, Joanna V Morgan, Katherine H Freeman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Co-evolution of wildfires and earlyCommunications earth & environment · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Massive perturbations to atmospheric sulfur in the aftermath of the Chicxulub impact.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shelby L LyonsDepartment of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; shelby.l.lyons@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0003-4656-3434
A Tyler KarpDepartment of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.ORCID 0000-0001-9764-749X
Timothy J BralowerDepartment of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.ORCID 0000-0002-3503-859X
Kliti GriceWestern Australia Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Institute for Geoscience Research, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6102, Australia.
Bettina SchaeferWestern Australia Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Institute for Geoscience Research, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6102, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4479-6245
Sean P S GulickInstitute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78758.ORCID 0000-0003-4740-9068
Joanna V MorganDepartment of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-2933-9473
Katherine H FreemanDepartment of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.ORCID 0000-0002-3350-7671

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An asteroid impact in the Yucatán Peninsula set off a sequence of events that led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction of 76% species, including the nonavian dinosaurs. The impact hit a carbonate platform and released sulfate aerosols and dust into Earth's upper atmosphere, which cooled and darkened the planet-a scenario known as an impact winter. Organic burn markers are observed in K-Pg boundary records globally, but their source is debated. If some were derived from sedimentary carbon, and not solely wildfires, it implies soot from the target rock also contributed to the impact winter. Characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Chicxulub crater sediments and at two deep ocean sites indicate a fossil carbon source that experienced rapid heating, consistent with organic matter ejected during the formation of the crater. Furthermore, PAH size distributions proximal and distal to the crater indicate the ejected carbon was dispersed globally by atmospheric processes. Molecular and charcoal evidence indicates wildfires were also present but more delayed and protracted and likely played a less acute role in biotic extinctions than previously suggested. Based on stratigraphy near the crater, between 7.5 × 10

Indexed as

Chicxulub impact craterCretaceous–Paleogeneimpact winterpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonswildfires

Identifiers

PMID32989138
PMCPMC7568312

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.