Correlation of the largest craters, stratigraphic impact signatures, and extinction events over the past 250 Myr

The six largest known impact craters of the last 250 Myr (>= 70 km in diameter), which are capable of causing significant environmental damage, coincide with four times of recognized extinction events at 36 (with 2 craters), 66, and 145 Myr ago, and possibly with two provisional extinction events at 168 and 215 Myr ago. These impact cratering events are accompanied by layers in the geologic record interpreted as impact ejecta. Chance occurrences of impacts and extinctions can be rejected at confidence levels of 99.96% (for 4 impact/extinctions) to 99.99% (for 6 impact/extinctions). These results argue that several extinction events over the last 250 Myr may be related to the effects of large-body impacts. (C) 2017, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.