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Mass Extinctions Hit Open Oceans Harder

Caption: This is a global map for the late Cretaceous that illustrates the boundaries of epicontinental seas, unusually broad areas of shallow water that were relatively isolated from the open ocean, in comparison to shallow settings of comparable depth in areas that rimmed the oceans such as continental shelves. Miller and Foote compared the dynamics of mass extinction and evolutionary origination in epicontinental seas versus open ocean-facing settings for the Permian through Cretaceous periods, when both settings were well represented. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Nov. 20 issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Arnold Miller of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and Michael Foote of the University of Chicago, was titled, " Epicontinental Seas Versus Open-Ocean Settings: The Kinetics of Mass Extinction and Origination."

Credit: [Underlying paleogeographic map courtesy of Ron Blakey, Northern Arizona University. Overlay courtesy of Arnold I. Miller]

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