An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body

Birger Schmitz; Kenneth A. Farley; Steven Goderis; Philipp R. Heck; Stig M. Bergström; Samuele Boschi; Philippe Claeys; Vinciane Debaille; Andrei Dronov; Matthias van Ginneken; David A.T. Harper; Faisal Iqbal; Johan Friberg; Shiyong Liao; Ellinor Martin; Matthias M.M. Meier; Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink; Bastien Soens; Rainer Wieler; Fredrik Terfelt

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body

Birger Schmitz, Kenneth A. Farley, Steven Goderis, Philipp R. Heck, Stig M. Bergström, Samuele Boschi, Philippe Claeys, Vinciane Debaille, Andrei Dronov, Matthias van Ginneken, David A.T. Harper, Faisal Iqbal, Johan Friberg, Shiyong Liao, Ellinor Martin, Matthias M.M. Meier, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bastien Soens, Rainer Wieler, Fredrik Terfelt

MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and ³He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup took place just at the onset of a major, eustatic sea level fall previously attributed to an Ordovician ice age. Shortly after the breakup, the flux to Earth of the most fine-grained, extraterrestrial material increased by three to four orders of magnitude. In the present stratosphere, extraterrestrial dust represents 1% of all the dust and has no climatic significance. Extraordinary amounts of dust in the entire inner solar system during >2 Ma following the L-chondrite breakup cooled Earth and triggered Ordovician icehouse conditions, sea level fall, and major faunal turnovers related to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Original language	English
Article number	eaax4184
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	5
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4184
Publication status	Published - 2019 Sept 18

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Geology

Access to Document

10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

Cite this

Schmitz, B., Farley, K. A., Goderis, S., Heck, P. R., Bergström, S. M., Boschi, S., Claeys, P., Debaille, V., Dronov, A., van Ginneken, M., Harper, D. A. T., Iqbal, F., Friberg, J., Liao, S., Martin, E., Meier, M. M. M., Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B., Soens, B., Wieler, R., & Terfelt, F. (2019). An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body. Science Advances, 5(9), Article eaax4184. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

@article{a8d93fbd25f447b8be2b9022b5d65ca9,

title = "An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body",

abstract = "The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and 3He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup took place just at the onset of a major, eustatic sea level fall previously attributed to an Ordovician ice age. Shortly after the breakup, the flux to Earth of the most fine-grained, extraterrestrial material increased by three to four orders of magnitude. In the present stratosphere, extraterrestrial dust represents 1\% of all the dust and has no climatic significance. Extraordinary amounts of dust in the entire inner solar system during >2 Ma following the L-chondrite breakup cooled Earth and triggered Ordovician icehouse conditions, sea level fall, and major faunal turnovers related to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.",

author = "Birger Schmitz and Farley, \{Kenneth A.\} and Steven Goderis and Heck, \{Philipp R.\} and Bergstr{\"o}m, \{Stig M.\} and Samuele Boschi and Philippe Claeys and Vinciane Debaille and Andrei Dronov and \{van Ginneken\}, Matthias and Harper, \{David A.T.\} and Faisal Iqbal and Johan Friberg and Shiyong Liao and Ellinor Martin and Meier, \{Matthias M.M.\} and Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink and Bastien Soens and Rainer Wieler and Fredrik Terfelt",

year = "2019",

month = sep,

day = "18",

doi = "10.1126/sciadv.aax4184",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Science Advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)",

number = "9",

}

Schmitz, B, Farley, KA, Goderis, S, Heck, PR, Bergström, SM, Boschi, S, Claeys, P, Debaille, V, Dronov, A, van Ginneken, M, Harper, DAT, Iqbal, F, Friberg, J, Liao, S, Martin, E, Meier, MMM, Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B, Soens, B, Wieler, R & Terfelt, F 2019, 'An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body', Science Advances, vol. 5, no. 9, eaax4184. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

TY - JOUR

T1 - An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age

T2 - Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body

AU - Schmitz, Birger

AU - Farley, Kenneth A.

AU - Goderis, Steven

AU - Heck, Philipp R.

AU - Bergström, Stig M.

AU - Boschi, Samuele

AU - Claeys, Philippe

AU - Debaille, Vinciane

AU - Dronov, Andrei

AU - van Ginneken, Matthias

AU - Harper, David A.T.

AU - Iqbal, Faisal

AU - Friberg, Johan

AU - Liao, Shiyong

AU - Martin, Ellinor

AU - Meier, Matthias M.M.

AU - Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard

AU - Soens, Bastien

AU - Wieler, Rainer

AU - Terfelt, Fredrik

PY - 2019/9/18

Y1 - 2019/9/18

N2 - The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and 3He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup took place just at the onset of a major, eustatic sea level fall previously attributed to an Ordovician ice age. Shortly after the breakup, the flux to Earth of the most fine-grained, extraterrestrial material increased by three to four orders of magnitude. In the present stratosphere, extraterrestrial dust represents 1% of all the dust and has no climatic significance. Extraordinary amounts of dust in the entire inner solar system during >2 Ma following the L-chondrite breakup cooled Earth and triggered Ordovician icehouse conditions, sea level fall, and major faunal turnovers related to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

AB - The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and 3He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup took place just at the onset of a major, eustatic sea level fall previously attributed to an Ordovician ice age. Shortly after the breakup, the flux to Earth of the most fine-grained, extraterrestrial material increased by three to four orders of magnitude. In the present stratosphere, extraterrestrial dust represents 1% of all the dust and has no climatic significance. Extraordinary amounts of dust in the entire inner solar system during >2 Ma following the L-chondrite breakup cooled Earth and triggered Ordovician icehouse conditions, sea level fall, and major faunal turnovers related to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85072309122

U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

M3 - Article

C2 - 31555741

AN - SCOPUS:85072309122

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 5

JO - Science Advances

JF - Science Advances

IS - 9

M1 - eaax4184

ER -

An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body

Abstract

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

The micrometeorite flux to Earth through the Phanerozoic Eon: Reconstructed using sediment-dispersed extraterrestrial spinels

The flux of extraterrestrial spinels to Earth associated with He-3 anomalies in Cenozoic and Ordovician sediments

Cite this