Asteroid impact, Schumann resonances and the end of dinosaurs

TL;DR

This paper estimates the dramatic increase in Schumann resonance fields following the Chicxulub impact and explores their potential role in stress-related biological effects that may have contributed to the dinosaurs' extinction.

Contribution

It provides the first quantitative estimate of Schumann resonance magnitudes immediately after an asteroid impact and discusses their possible biological significance.

Findings

Schumann resonance fields could be 50,000 times stronger post-impact.

Environmental impact of the impact could cause long-term distortion of Schumann resonances.

Potential stress effects on biological systems may have influenced dinosaur extinction.

Abstract

We estimate the expected magnitudes of the Schumann resonance fields immediately after the Chicxulub impact and show that they exceed their present-day values by about $5\times 10^4$ times. Long-term distortion of the Schumann resonance parameters is also expected due to the enviromental impact of the Chicxulub event. If Schumann resonances play a regulatory biological role, as some studies indicate, it is possible that the excitation and distortion of Schumann resonances as a result of the asteroid/comet impact was a possible stress factor, which, among other stress factors associated with the impact, contributed to the demise of dinosaurs.