«The Sixth Extinction»

by Elizabeth Kolbert
chapter 4

«THE FORTUNE OF THE AMMONITES»

By Francesco Gasperin and Roberto Fontanella

The Place
• We are in «Gola del
Bottaccione», Gubbio
(Italy).

• At first, this place were

submerged by the sea, now
is a touristic destination in
all resprects.

45° tilt
Walter Alvarez, the geologist
I’m his father Hi, I’m Walter

…Walter and Louis belonged to a

long dynasty of scientists…
 a s t e r o id !
o o f o f t he
f ir s t p r
The
What the «foraminifera» were?
• They were micro organism that lived in the sea;
• They made very small shells of calcite;
• When the animal inside (the shells) died, the shells
are deposited on the seabed.

Some examples of many different type of calcite rocks

 The Issue was:

Why the foraminifera and the

dinosaurs became extinted at the
same time?
IRIDIUM: WHAT IS THIS?
Where did Walter take the
samples?
Walter went in 3 countries: Italy, Denmark and
New Zeland.

• In Italy, He went to Gola del Bottaccione near

Gubbio;

• In Denmark, He found a lot of iridium in a

limestone cliff called «Stevns Klint»;

• In New Zeland, He found an high percentage of

iridium in the Southern Island of New Zeland.
The hypothesis of the Alvarez

They understood that 65 million years ago, a meteorite of 10 kilometers

in diameter, fell on the earth.

This meteorite caused a huge explosion and lifted powders that covered
the whole earth. The results were a:

MASS EXTINCTION
The positive side and the negative side

PUBBLICATION

ARROGANCE/CRITICAL
 Walter Alvarez and Neil Landman

Walter Alvarez Neil Landman

What the ammonites are?
• Ammonidea is a group of clams, lived in
Devonian age;
• They are marine animals of many sizes,
characterized by an external shell composed
mainly of calcium carbonate;
• Plinio il Vecchio, died in the eruption of the
Vesuvio, knew a lot about ammonites;
• In the medieval England the ammonites were
know as «snake stones», while in Germany they
were objects to treat sick cows.
 The final consideration

THE ECOSYSTEM, FROM THE SEA WORLD,

TO THE FLORA AND FAUNA, COLLAPSED.
EVERY SINGLE LIVING BEING (in particular
the animals bigger than a cat), BECAME
EXTINCT.
Despite this mass extinction, why, nowadays there are close relatives of the
ammonites?

…AND…

How could a creature adapt negatively or positively to an enviroment or a

conditions never faced before?
…END OF CHAPTER 4…

…presentation by Francesco Gasperin and Roberto Fontanella.