Mass Extinction (eBook)

Ashraf Elewa is currently a professor at the University of Minia, Egypt, from where he earned his B.Sc in Geology and his M. Sc. in Lithostratigraphy and Paleontology, and finally his Ph.D. in Micropalentology. His fields of research range from paleontology to traditional  and geometric morphometrics and systematics and evolutionary trends in ostracoda.

Dedication 5
Foreword 6
Table of Contents 8
1 Mass Extinction - a general view 14
References 17
2 Late Ordovician mass extinction 18
References 20
3 The End Ordovician an ice age in the middle of a greenhouse
3.1 Introduction 21
3.2 Early research: The discovery of the glacial period 22
3.3 Fast or slow: The changing face of the Ordovician glaciation 24
3.4 Trilobite extinction and larval form 27
3.5 Future work 29
3.6 Acknowledgements 29
References 30
4 Silurian global events – at the tipping point of climate change 32
4.1 Introduction 32
4.2 The Silurian marine scene 35
4.3 Discovery of the Silurian global events 36
4.4 The Early Silurian Ireviken Event 42
4.5 The Middle Silurian Mulde Event 46
4.6 The Late Silurian Lau Event 50
4.7 Structure of the Silurian global events 54
4.8 Summary 60
4.9 Acknowledgement 61
References 61
5 Late Devonian mass extinction 69
References 70
6 Late Permian mass extinction 71
7 Late Triassic mass extinction 73
References 74
8 Reexamination of the end-Triassic mass extinction 75
8.1 Introduction 75
8.2 Late Triassic Timescale 76
8.3 Some methodological issues 76
8.4 Extinctions of taxonomic groups 81
8.5 Ecological severity 95
8.6 Causes of the TJB extinctions 96
8.7 Late Triassic extinction events 98
8.8 Acknowledgments 100
References 100
9 Cenomanian/Turonian mass extinction of macroinvertebrates in the context of Paleoecology A case study from North Wadi Qena, Eastern Desert, Egypt
9.1 Introduction 113
9.2 Geographical and geologic setting 115
9.3 Material and methods 116
9.4 Correlation of diversity and preservation 117
9.5 Biostratigraphy 118
9.6 Results 119
9.7 Discussion and conclusions 131
9.8 Acknowledgements 134
References 135
10 K-Pg mass extinction 138
References 139
11 Causes of mass extinction at the K/Pg boundary: A case study from the North African Plate 141
11.1 Introduction 141
11.2 Material and methods 142
11.3 Quantitative results 143
11.4 Qualitative results 146
11.5 Discussion and conclusions 150
11.6 Acknowledgements 154
References 155
12 Patterns and causes of mass extinction at the K/ Pg boundary: Planktonic foraminifera from the North African Plate 157
12.1 Introduction 157
12.2 Stratigraphy 158
12.3 Material and methods 159
12.4 Results and discussion 161
12.5 Acknowledgements 165
References 166
13 Quaternary extinctions in Southeast Asia 167
13.1 Introduction 167
13.2 The Quaternary “megafauna” extinctions 168
13.3 Quaternary Extinctions in Southeast Asia 173
13.4 Southeast Asia’s megafauna 180
13.5 Human overhunting in Southeast Asia? 185
13.6 Climate change and megafauna 186
13.7 The modern extinction crisis 189
13.8 Summary 190
13.9 Acknowledgements 191
References 191
14 Current mass extinction 198
15 Current insect extinctions 202
15.1 Introduction 202
15.2 Insect mass extinctions in the past 204
15.3 Types of current insect extinctions 207
15.4 The prediction of certain insect extinctions 216
15.5 Conservation of insect species and their biodiversities 234
15.6 Acknowledgements 247
References 247
Index 257