Delayed recovery of marine productivity closer to the crater implies an impact-related environmental control, such as toxic metal poisoning 12, on recovery times. After the mass extinction, the recovery of the global marine ecosystem - measured as primary productivity - was geographically heterogeneous 8 export production in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic-western Tethys was slower than in most other regions 8-11, taking 300 thousand years (kyr) to return to levels similar to those of the Late Cretaceous period. ![]() ![]() It was caused by the impact of an asteroid 3,4 on the Yucatán carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago 5, forming the Chicxulub impact crater 6,7. The Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction eradicated 76% of species on Earth 1,2.
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