Oceans Strangelove

Hollander D. J., McKenzie J. A., and Hsii K. J. (1993) Carbon isotope evidence for unusual plankton blooms and fluctuations of surface water CO2 in Strangelove Ocean after terminal Cretaceous event. Palaeogeogr. PalaeocUmat. Palaeoecol. 104, 119-Til. 

Kump L. R. (1991) Interpreting carbon-isotope excursions strangelove oceans. Geology 19, 299-302. 

Fig. 6.29 Idealized representation of C isotopic gradients for marine carbonate under normal photosynthesizing conditions (e.g. modern ocean), after biotic collapse (Strangelove ocean) and for dominance of microbial respiration in surface waters (after Hsii McKenzie 1990).

Atmospheric pC02 is likely to have increased as a result of equilibration between the air and Strangelove ocean, and the terrestrial wild fires triggered by the bolide impact (Wolbach et al. 1988). However, the periodic phytoplanktonic blooms would have drawn down significant amounts of C02. Consequently, it is likely that there were dramatic climatic swings during the recovery phase, until atmospheric C02 levels stabilized (Wolfe Upchurch 1986). 

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