Preliminary identification of fullerenes in the lowermost Jurassic strata, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia

Randall S. Perry; James W. Haggart; Peter D. Ward

doi:10.1117/12.509700

10 February 2004 Preliminary identification of fullerenes in the lowermost Jurassic strata, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia

Randall S. Perry, James W. Haggart, Peter D. Ward

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5163, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.509700
Event: Optical Science and Technology, SPIE's 48th Annual Meeting, 2003, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Triassic-Jurassic (TJ) mass extinction (~200 mya) event is one of the most severe in geologic history. It is also one of the most poorly understood. Few geologic sections containing the TJ boundary interval have been identified globally, and most of those are poorly preserved; the paucity of suitable stratigraphic sections has prevented corroborative geochemical studies of this interval. Recently, fullerene molecules (C₆₀ to C₂₀₀) have been shown to be present in the mass extinction boundary intervals of the Permian-Triassic (PT) event (~251.4 mya), as well as the well-known “dinosaur” extinction event of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) (~65 mya). The presence of fullerenes in both these extinction intervals has been used to invoke an extraterrestrial impact cause for the extinctions. Preliminary results of laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) of selected samples from the Kennecott Point TJ boundary section, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, suggest that fullerenes (C₆₀ to ~C₂₀₀) are present in the section, stratigraphically above the extinction interval (as defined by paleontological and isotopic data), but not actually within the interval itself. The presence of fullerenes may not be diagnostic of an impact event.

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Randall S. Perry, James W. Haggart, and Peter D. Ward "Preliminary identification of fullerenes in the lowermost Jurassic strata, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia", Proc. SPIE 5163, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VII, (10 February 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.509700

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