Re: K-T Extinctions

[Peter Sheehan <sheehan@csd4.csd.uwm.edu>]

On Fri, 3 Mar 1995, Janice Dependahl wrote:

> Does anyone know the outcome of the following K-T extinction study: 
> Back in 1992, I read about the opposing works of Jan Smit, Free
> University, Amsterdam, and Gerta Keller, Princeton.  Both were
> studying rocks from the El Kef Formation in Tunisia.  Their findings
> were diametrically opposed.  In April, 1992, they were scheduled to
> meet in Tunisia to collect samples of the El Kef Formation and then
> swap the rocks to conduct "blind" analyses.  
> My question is does anyone know the outcome of this study?  Or can
> anyone give me a reference for the results?  I've wondered for almost
> 3 years what came out of this showdown.
> 
> Thanks in advance!  :-)
> 
> Jan Dependahl
> Dept. of Earth Sciences
> Santa Barbara City College
> 



A concise summary was written by Steve D'Hondt in 
Palaios v. 9, p. 221-223.   He discussed the Snowbird III Conference 
where the results of the "blind analysis" were hashed over.  Steve is a 
student of Gerta.

Also specifics of the results of the "blind" test were discussed by Dick 
Kerr in Science v. 263, p. 1371-1372.

The results strongly point to a very abrupt extinction at the impact 
horizon.  This of course is my reading of the event, Gerta and friends 
will certainly disagree.  I believe the two articles present a 
reasoned view.