This book is the first volume of a new interdisciplinary series on "Impact Studies". The volumes of this series aim to include all aspects of research related to impact cratering - geology, geophysics, paleontology, geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology, planetolgy, etc. Future volumes will include monographs, field guides, conference proceedings, etc. All contributions in this book were peer-reviewed to ensure high scientific quality. The thirteen papers in the present volume result from a workshop of the European Science Foundation (ESF) IMPACT programme ("Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes"). This programme is an interdisciplinary effort aimed at understanding impact processes and their effects on the Earth System, including environmental, biological, and geological changes, and consequences for the biodiversity of ecosystems. The goals of the programme, and details about our activities, can be found on the web at . The IMPACT programme has currently 15 member nations from allover Europe. The activities of the programme range from workshops to specific topics regarding impact cratering, short courses on impact stratigraphy, shock metamorphism, etc. , mobility grants for students and young researchers, development of teaching aids, and publications. The third IMPACT workshop was held in Quillan, in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, in September 1999.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

This collection of papers covers a wide time span, ranging from the Late Devonian mass extinction to the Tuguska event in 1908. The focus is on impact processes affecting the Earth system and consequently biodiversity of ecosystems. Some theoretical papers on impact models are also included. The book is of value to geologists, paleontologists, biologists and astrobiologists.

Inhalt
Ostracods Prove that the Frasnian/Famennian Boundary Mass Extinction was a Major and Abrupt Crisis.- Lateral Variations in End-Permian Organic Matter in Northern Italy.- Stable-Isotope and Trace Element Stratigraphy of the Jurassic/Cretaceous Boundary, Bosso River Gorge, Italy.- Phytoplankton Blooms in the Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary Beds of the Barents Sea Possibly Induced by the Mjølnir Impact.- A Geographic Database Approach to the KT Boundary.- Effects of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Event on Bony Fishes.- K/T Impact Remains in an Ammonite from the Uppermost Maastrichtian of Bidart Section (French Basque Country).- Petrographic and Geochemical Studies in the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary, Pernambuco Paraíba Basin, Brazil.- Effects of Bioturbation through the Late Eocene Impactoclastic Layer near Massignano, Italy.- The Ries and Steinheim Meteorite Impacts and their Effect on Environmental Conditions in Time and Space.- Radiation Effects of the Chicxulub Impact Event.- Extraterrestrial Material Deposition after Impacts into Continental and Oceanic Sites.- Petrophysics Hints at Unexplored Impact Physics.