Cretaceous wildfires and their impact on the Earth system

Brown, Sarah Annes; Scott, Andrew C.; Glasspool, Ian J.; Collinson, Margaret E.

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2012.02.008

Cited by 128 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 157 publications

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“…Wildfires occur every day on our planet, with at least 40% of Earth's modern ecosystems being considered fire prone (Bond et al 2005). Wildfires were a common feature of the Cretaceous landscape based on the high abundances of fossil charcoals found in rocks from this period (Belcher et al 2005;Glasspool & Scott 2010;Brown et al 2012). Moreover, high fire frequencies in the Cretaceous appear to have driven plant adaptations to fire at this time; for example, Pinus has been shown to evolve the fire-adaptive traits of thick bark and serotinous cones between 129 and 89 Ma (He et al 2012), implying that some plants were becoming increasingly adapted to fire throughout this period.…”

Section: Wildfires and Disruption To Earth's Flora At The K-pg Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental assessment of the ignition of forest fuels by the thermal pulse generated by the Cretaceous–Palaeogene impact at Chicxulub

Belcher

Hadden

Rein

et al. 2015

JGS

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Abstract:A large extraterrestrial body hit the Yucatán Peninsula at the end of the Cretaceous period. Models suggest that a substantial amount of thermal radiation was delivered to the Earth's surface by the impact, leading to the suggestion that it was capable of igniting extensive wildfires and contributed to the end-Cretaceous extinctions. We have reproduced in the laboratory the most intense impact-induced heat fluxes estimated to have reached different points on the Earth's surface using a fire propagation apparatus and investigated the ignition potential of forest fuels. The experiments indicate that dry litter can ignite, but live fuels typically do not, suggesting that any ignition caused by impact-induced thermal radiation would have been strongly regional dependent. The intense, but short-lived, pulse downrange and at proximal and intermediate distances from the impact is insufficient to ignite live fuel. However, the less intense but longer-lasting thermal pulse at distal locations may have ignited areas of live fuels. Because plants and ecosystems are generally resistant to single localized fire events, we conclude that any fires ignited by impact-induced thermal radiation cannot be directly responsible for plant extinctions, implying that heat stress is only part of the end-Cretaceous story.

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Section: Wildfires and Disruption To Earth's Flora At The K-pg Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental assessment of the ignition of forest fuels by the thermal pulse generated by the Cretaceous–Palaeogene impact at Chicxulub

Belcher

Hadden

Rein

et al. 2015

JGS

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“…Floods and hyperconcentrated to mass sediment flows are commonly recognized as events that kill and bury modern vertebrates and other dinosaur remains at sites around the world (Rogers 2005;Zaleha 2005;Eberth et al 2006;Myers and Storrs 2007;Lauters et al 2008;Britt et al 2009;Liu et al 2010). More recently, the recognition of charcoal in bonebed sites at Dinosaur Provincial Park has also raised the possibility that the devegetation that accompanies wildfires may have amplified the effects of flooding events that resulted in dinosaur bonebed formation in Upper Cretaceous deposits of southern Alberta and perhaps elsewhere (Brown et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hadrosaurid (Edmontosaurus) bonebeds from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Horsethief Member) at Drumheller, Alberta, Canada: geology, preliminary taphonomy, and significance

2015

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Three monodominant hadrosaurid bonebeds in the Horsethief Member of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (uppermost Campanian) in southern Alberta, Canada, are documented. Each bonebed is hosted by a decimetre-thick deposit of poorly sorted and graded organic-fragment-rich mudstone. These fossil deposits are interpreted as having been carried and deposited by debris flows or hyperconcentrated mass sediment flows initiated by overbank flooding from local channels. Each bonebed is dominated (>50% of identifiable elements) by the disarticulated to occasionally associated remains of hadrosaurine hadrosaurids, inferred to be Edmontosaurus regalis. The majority of hadrosaurid elements at two of the sites (Bleriot Ferry and Prehistoric Park) are from large, presumably adult-sized individuals, whereas the majority of elements from the Fox Coulee site are from subadults and juveniles. Fossil elements from all the sites exhibit similar taphonomic signatures suggestive of a high degree of biostratinomic modification including: (i) thorough disarticulation of carcasses, (ii) a large amount of breakage, (iii) modest amounts of size sorting, and (iv) minimum to modest occurrences of abrasion, and scratch and tooth marks. These signatures indicate that carcasses were exposed for significant amounts of time on the floodplain, where they rotted, were scavenged and trampled, and were exposed to moving water prior to final burial. The size of each bonebed together with the density of bones suggest that the biocoenoses comprised large groups of hadrosaurids, and bone size distributions suggest the possibility of age-segregated populations. The monodominant nature of the assemblages combined with homogenous taphonomic signatures within and between sites suggests that these bonebed assemblages are best interpreted as the result of mass kills rather than attrition, with recurring tropical storm-induced coastal-plain flooding postulated as a likely mechanism for what killed and eventually buried these dinosaurs. Résumé :Trois lits à ossements à monodominance d'hadrosauridés du Membre de Horsethief de la Formation de Horseshoe Canyon (Campanien sommital) dans le sud de l'Alberta (Canada) sont documentés. Chaque lit à ossements se trouve dans un dépôt d'épaisseur décimétrique de mudstone mal classé et granoclassé riche en fragments organiques. Ces gisements fossilifères sont interprétés comme ayant été transportés et déposés par des coulées de débris ou des coulées de masse de sédiments hyperconcentrées initiées par l'inondation des berges par des chenaux locaux. Chaque lit à ossements est dominé (>50 % des éléments identifiables) par les restes désarticulés à occasionnellement associés d'hadrosauridés hadrosaurinés, présumés être d'Edmontosaurus regalis. La majorité des éléments d'hadrosauridé à deux des sites (Bleriot Ferry et Prehistoric Park) proviennent de grands individus présumés être de taille adulte, alors que la majorité des éléments du site de Fox Coulee proviennent d'individus subadultes et juvéniles. Les éléments fossile...

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“…Currently, it is not clear whether the differences in the numbers of published reports from the Northern and the Southern hemisphere are due to a biased fossil record, a lack of studies on Southern hemisphere fires or to real differences in the occurrence of Cretaceous fires (Bond & Scott, 2010;Brown et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Most reports on the Permian and Cretaceous wildfires come from the Northern hemisphere (e.g. Abu Hamad et al, 2012;Brown et al, 2012;Jasper et al, 2013), but at least for the Permian the number of reports from the southern hemisphere (i.e. Gondwana) is steadily increasing (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Based on available data from the Northern hemisphere, the Cretaceous was a period of 'high-fire' period (Scott et al, 2014), but due to the scarcity of data from the Southern hemisphere it is not clear whether this holds true from a global point of view (Bond & Scott, 2010;Brown et al, 2012). Currently, it is not clear whether the differences in the numbers of published reports from the Northern and the Southern hemisphere are due to a biased fossil record, a lack of studies on Southern hemisphere fires or to real differences in the occurrence of Cretaceous fires (Bond & Scott, 2010;Brown et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The first evidence of paleo-wildfire from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of North Africa

Atfy

Sallam

Jasper

et al. 2016

Cretaceous Research

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Cretaceous wildfires and their impact on the Earth system

Cited by 128 publications

References 157 publications

An experimental assessment of the ignition of forest fuels by the thermal pulse generated by the Cretaceous–Palaeogene impact at Chicxulub

An experimental assessment of the ignition of forest fuels by the thermal pulse generated by the Cretaceous–Palaeogene impact at Chicxulub

Hadrosaurid (Edmontosaurus) bonebeds from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Horsethief Member) at Drumheller, Alberta, Canada: geology, preliminary taphonomy, and significance

The first evidence of paleo-wildfire from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of North Africa

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