We performed spectral analyses on the ages of 89 well-dated major geological events of the last 260 Myr from the recent geologic literature. These events include times of marine and non-marine extinctions, major ocean-anoxic events, continental flood-basalt eruptions, sea-level fluctuations, global pulses of intraplate magmatism, and times of changes in seafloor-spreading rates and plate reorganizations. The aggregate of all 89 events shows ten clusters in the last 260 Myr, spaced at an average interval of ~ 26.9 Myr, and Fourier analysis of the data yields a spectral peak at 27.5 Myr at the ≥ 96% confidence level. A shorter period of ~ 8.9 Myr may also be significant in modulating the timing of geologic events. Our results suggest that global geologic events are generally correlated, and seem to come in pulses with an underlying ~ 27.5-Myr cycle. These cyclic pulses of tectonics and climate change may be the result of geophysical processes related to the dynamics of plate tectonics and mantle plumes, or might alternatively be paced by astronomical cycles associated with the Earth’s motions in the Solar System and the Galaxy.

我们从最近的地质文献中对过去 260 Myr 的 89 个年代久远的主要地质事件的年龄进行了光谱分析。这些事件包括海洋和非海洋灭绝的时间、主要的海洋缺氧事件、大陆洪水-玄武岩喷发、海平面波动、全球板块内岩浆活动的脉冲，以及海底扩张速率和板块重组的变化时间。所有 89 个事件的聚合显示了最后 260 Myr 中的 10 个集群，平均间隔为 ~ 26.9 Myr，并且对数据的傅立叶分析在 27.5 Myr 处产生了 ≥ 96% 置信水平的光谱峰值。约 8.9 Myr 的较短周期对于调节地质事件的时间也可能具有重要意义。我们的结果表明，全球地质事件通常是相关的，并且似乎以潜在的 ~ 27.5-Myr 周期脉冲出现。