Mineralogy and petrology of the Cretaceous- Tertiary boundary clay bed and adjacent clay-rich rocks, Raton Basin, New Mexico and Colorado.

The K-T boundary occurs at the top of a kaolinitic claystone layer, commonly referred to as the 'boundary clay layer', in an interval of coal and carbonaceous shale. The boundary is defined by the disappearance of certain fossil-pollen taxa. The boundary clay layer also contains shocked quartz grains and abundance anomalies of iridium, chromium, and other elements. Each of these characteristics support the hypothesis of an asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous. -from Authors