Geological prosepctings and paleontology show that the history of life on Earth has been characterized by several mass extinctions. Although they are generally attributed to comet and/or asteroid impacts, what caused these extinctions is still an open problem. Here we propose that at least a fraction of the life extinctions might have been caused by gamma-ray bursts explosionjs close enough to Earth. We estimate that a GRB event every about 30 millions years should produce a partial life extinction while a burst every 300 millions years could be the cause of almost global life extinctions.These results are in accordance with the available geological data. New tests which might confirm this scenario are also proposed.
Life extinctions from gamma-ray bursts
DE PAOLIS, Francesco;INGROSSO, Gabriele;ORLANDO, Daniela;
2000-01-01
Abstract
Geological prosepctings and paleontology show that the history of life on Earth has been characterized by several mass extinctions. Although they are generally attributed to comet and/or asteroid impacts, what caused these extinctions is still an open problem. Here we propose that at least a fraction of the life extinctions might have been caused by gamma-ray bursts explosionjs close enough to Earth. We estimate that a GRB event every about 30 millions years should produce a partial life extinction while a burst every 300 millions years could be the cause of almost global life extinctions.These results are in accordance with the available geological data. New tests which might confirm this scenario are also proposed.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
