Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T12:13:29.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Tertiary radiation of marine molluscs and the long-term effects of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Thor A. Hansen
Thor A. Hansen*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction reduced the gamma diversity of molluscs on the U.S. Gulf Coast from over 500 species in the late Maastrichtian to a little over 100 species in the early Danian. Gamma (total) diversity increased in a series of steps that generally tracked temperature, to a high of around 400 species in the late Middle Eocene, at which time diversity declined in the Late Eocene–Oligocene extinctions. The molluscan radiation occurred in at least two distinct phases: 1) an Initial Radiation Phase in which certain families underwent unusually high speciation, apparently filling ecological niches vacated by the extinction, followed by extinction of many of the species in these families in the late Danian; and, 2) a Secondary Radiation Phase where gamma diversity gradually increased and new genera gradually appeared. The fact that the gamma diversity of molluscs did not reach pre-extinction levels before the next extinction in the Late Eocene suggests that molluscan faunas may spend much of their evolutionary time recovering from these extinctions.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , Winter 1988 , pp. 37 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Alvarez, W. 1986. Toward a theory of impact crises. Eos 67:649–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, L. W., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F., and Michel, H. V. 1980. Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction. Science 208:1095–1108.Google Scholar
Alvarez, W., Alvarez, L. W., and Michel, H. V. 1982. Current status of the impact theory for the terminal Cretaceous extinction. Geological Society of America Special Paper 190:305–315.Google Scholar
Bohor, B. F., Foord, E. E., Modreski, P. J., and Triplehorn, D. M. 1984. Mineralogic evidence for an impact event at the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary. Science 224:867–869.Google Scholar
Bohor, B. F., Modreski, P. J., and Foord, E. E. 1985. A search for shock-metamorphosed quartz at the K–T boundary. Proceedings of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 16:79–80.Google Scholar
Bretsky, S. S. 1976. Evolution and classification of the Lucinidae (Mollusca; Bivalvia). Palaeontographica Americana 8:1–337.Google Scholar
Dockery, D. T. III. 1977. Mollusca of the Moodys Branch Formation, Mississippi. Mississippi Geological Survey Bulletin 120. 212 pp.Google Scholar
Dockery, D. T. III. 1982. Lower Oligocene Bivalvia of the Vicksburg Group in Mississippi. Mississippi Geological Survey Bulletin 123. 261 pp.Google Scholar
Dockery, D. T. III. 1986. Punctuated succession of Paleogene mollusks in the northern gulf coastal plain. Palaios 1:582–589.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., Kraus, E. B., and Shoemaker, E. M. 1981. Sudden death at the end of the Mesozoic. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 55:317–334.Google Scholar
Galtsoff, P. S. 1964. The American oyster, Crassostrea virginica Gmelin. Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service 64. 480 pp.Google Scholar
Grassle, J. F. and Grassle, J. P. 1974. Opportunistic life histories and genetic systems in marine benthic polychaetes. Journal of Marine Research 32:253–284.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1981. Facies Interpretation and the Stratigraphic Record. W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco. 291 pp.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1987. Radiations and extinctions in relation to environmental change in the marine Lower Jurassic of northwest Europe. Paleobiology 13:152–168.Google Scholar
Hansen, T. A. 1978. Larval dispersal and species longevity in lower Tertiary gastropods. Science 199:915–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, T. A. 1980. Influence of larval dispersal and geographic distribution on species longevity in neogastropods. Paleobiology 6:193–207.Google Scholar
Hansen, T. A. 1987. Extinction of Late Eocene to Oligocene mollusks—relationship to shelf area, temperature changes and impact events. Palaios 2:69–75.Google Scholar
Hansen, T. A., Farrand, R., Montgomery, H., and Billman, H. 1984. Sedimentology and extinction patterns across the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary interval in East Texas. Pp. 21–36. In Yancey, T. E. (ed.), The Cretaceous–Tertiary Boundary and Lower Tertiary of the Brazos River Valley. Fieldtrip Guidebook for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geology and the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists.Google Scholar
Hansen, T. A., Farrand, R., Montgomery, H., Billman, H., and Blechschmidt, G. 1987. Sedimentology and extinction patterns across the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary interval in East Texas. Cretaceous Research 8:229–252.Google Scholar
Hansen, T. A. and Kauffman, E. G. 1986. Giant storm events and step-wise extinction at the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary, Brazos River Region, Texas. Geological Society of America abstracts with Program 18:627.Google Scholar
Harries, P. J., Kauffman, E. G., and Hansen, T. A. 1987. Biological patterns of survival and recovery following mass extinctions. Geological Society of America abstracts with Program 19:281.Google Scholar
Heaslip, W. G. 1968. Cenozoic evolution of the alticostate venericards in Gulf and East Coastal North America. Palaeontographica Americana 6:1–135.Google Scholar
Hut, P., Alvarez, W., Elder, W. P., Hansen, T., Kauffman, E. G., Keller, G., Shoemaker, E. M., and Weissman, P. R. 1987. Comet showers as a cause of mass extinctions. Nature. 329:118–126.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1982. Evolutionary rates and modes in Late Cretaceous gastropods: role of larval ecology. Proceeding of the Third North American Paleontological Convention 1:257–262.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1983. Apparent vs. real extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Geological Society of America abstracts with Program 15:602.Google Scholar
Jansa, L. F. and Pe-Piper, G. 1987. Identification of an underwater extraterrestrial impact crater. Nature 327:612–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, M. J. and Gartner, S. 1986. Calcareous nannofossil succession across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in east-central Texas. Micropaleontology 32:232–255.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1984. The fabric of Cretaceous marine extinctions. Pp. 151–246. In Berggren, W. A. and Van Couvering, J. A. (eds.), Catastrophes and Earth History. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. and Hansen, T. A. 1985. Stepwise mass extinction associated with major oceanic and climatic perturbations: evidence for multiple impacts? Eos Transactions 66:813–814.Google Scholar
Kitchell, J. A. and Carr, T. R. 1985. Nonequilibrium model of diversification faunal turnover dynamics. Pp. 227–309. In Valentine, J. W. (ed.), Phanerozoic Diversity Patterns. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Levinton, J. S. 1970. The paleoecological significance of opportunistic species. Lethaia 3:69–78.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. S., Watkins, G. H., Hartman, H., and Prinn, R. G. 1982. Chemical consequences of major impact events on Earth. Geological Society of America Special Paper 190:215–221.Google Scholar
MacNeil, F. S. and Dockery, D. T. III. 1984. Lower Oligocene Gastropoda, Scaphopoda, and Cephalopoda of the Vicksburg Group in Mississippi. Mississippi Bureau of Geology Bulletin 124. 416 pp.Google Scholar
Palmer, K. V. W. 1967. A comparison of certain Eocene molluscs of the Americas with those of the Western Tethys. Pp. 183–193. In Adams, C. G. and Ager, D. V. (eds.), Aspects of Tethyan Biogeography. Systematics Association Publication 7.Google Scholar
Palmer, K. V. W. and Brann, D. C. 1965, 1966. Catalogue of the Paleocene and Eocene Mollusca of the southern and eastern United States. Bulletin of American Paleontology 48, 218. 1027 pp.Google Scholar
Prinn, R. G. 1985. Impacts, acid rain, and biospheric traumas. Eos Transactions 66:813.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. and Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1984. Periodicity of extinctions in the geologic past. Proceeding of the National Academy of Science 81:801–805.Google Scholar
Saul, L. R. 1983. Turritella zonation across the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary, California. University of California Publications in Geological Science 125. 165 pp.Google Scholar
Sheehan, P. M. and Hansen, T. A. 1986. Detritus feeding as a buffer to extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. Geology 14:868–870.Google Scholar
Smit, J. 1982. Extinction and evolution of planktonic foraminifera after a major impact at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Geological Society of America Special Paper 190:329–352.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1979. Macroevolution. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco. 332 pp.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1984. Temperature and biotic crises in the marine realm. Geology 12:205–208.Google Scholar
Stenzel, H. B. 1971. Oysters. Pp.N953–N1224. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Mollusca 6, Bivalvia 3. University of Kansas Press and the Geological Society of America, Lawrence, Kansas, and Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Toon, O. B., Pollack, J. B., Ackerman, T. P., Turco, R. P., McKay, C. P., and Liu, M. S. 1982. Evolution of an impact-generated dust cloud and its effects on the atmosphere. Geological Society of America Special Paper 190:187–200.Google Scholar
Toulmin, L. D. 1977. Stratigraphic distribution of Paleocene and Eocene fossils in the eastern Gulf Coast region. Alabama Geological Survey Monograph 13, 1, 2. 602 pp.Google Scholar
Vail, P. R., Mitchum, R. M. Jr., and Thompson, S. III. 1977. Seismic stratigraphy and global changes of sea level, part 4: global cycles of relative changes of sea level. Pp. 83–97. In Payton, C. E. (ed.), Seismic Stratigraphy—Applications to Hydrocarbon Exploration. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26.Google Scholar
Vermeij, G. J. 1977. The Mesozoic marine revolution: evidence from snails, predators and grazers. Paleobiology 3:245–258.Google Scholar
Wolbach, W. S., Lewis, R. S., and Anders, E. 1985. Cretaceous extinctions: evidence for wildfires and search for meteoritic material. Science 230:167–170.Google Scholar
Wolfe, J. A. and Poore, R. Z. 1982. Tertiary marine and nonmarine climatic trends. Pp. 154–158. In Berger, W. H., and Crowell, J. C. (eds.), Climate in Earth History. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar