Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:35:08.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mass extinction pattern: result of chance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Elliot Noma  and
Arnold L. Glass
Elliot Noma
Affiliation:
National Analysts, 400 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, U.S.A.
Arnold L. Glass*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Rutgers –The State University, Busch Campus, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, U.S.A.
*
†Correspondence to A. L. Glass.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Arguments on the periodicity of mass extinction have been marred by incorrect statistical arguments. Mass extinction patterns can be best interpreted as chance fluctuations over time.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 124 , Issue 4 , July 1987 , pp. 319 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gould, S. J. 1985. All the news that's fit to print and some opinions that aren't. Discover, November 1985, 86–91.Google Scholar
Hoffman, A. 1985. Patterns of family extinction depend on definition and geological timescale. Nature 315, 659–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, A. & Ghiold, J. 1985. Randomness in the pattern of ‘mass extinctions’ and ‘waves of origination’. Geological Magazine 122, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, M. G. 1973. Time-series, pp. 22–6. London: Griffin.Google Scholar
Kitchell, J. A. & Pena, D. 1984. Periodicity of extinctions in the geologic past: Deterministic versus stochastic explanations. Science 226, 689–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raup, D. M. & Sepkoski, J. J. Jr 1984. Periodicity of extinctions in the geologic past. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, 81, 801–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raup, D. M. & Sepkoski, J. J. Jr 1986. Periodic extinction of families and genera. Science 231, 833–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallis, W. A. & Moore, G. H. 1941. A significance test for time series analysis. Journal of the American Statistical Association 36, 401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar