Thursday, July 30, 2026
Science

Tiny fossils crack a Cretaceous cold case: Ocean acidification triggered one of the ocean's most severe extinctions

A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest extinction events in the history of planktic foraminifera—tiny shell-buildin...

Tiny fossils crack a Cretaceous cold case: Ocean acidification triggered one of the ocean's most severe extinctions
Image: Phys.org
A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest extinction events in the history of planktic foraminifera—tiny shell-building organisms that help regulate Earth's carbon cycle.

Originally published at Phys.org

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