Power spectra of extinction in the fossil record

Abstract

Recent Fourier analyses of fossil extinction data have indicated that the power spectrum of extinction during the Phanerozoic may take the form of 1/f noise, a result which, it has been suggested, could be indicative of the presence of ‘critical dynamics’ in the processes giving rise to extinction. In this paper we examine extinction power spectra in some detail, using family–level data from two widely available compilations. We find that although the average form of the power spectrum roughly obeys the 1/f law, the spectrum can be represented more accurately by dividing it into two regimes: a low–frequency one which is well fit by an exponential, and a high–frequency one in which it follows a power law with a 1/f² form. We give explanations for the occurrence of each of these behaviours and for the position of the crossover between them.