Minmi Ceratosaurus
Posts : 169 Reputation : 3 Join date : 2017-01-16 Location : Waterfall City, Dinotopia
| Subject: Dinosaur extinction theories Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:36 pm | |
| Let's talk about the three major theories to explain the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction. The first theory involves climate change. Global temperatures fell at the end of the Cretaceous and the seasons that we know today were starting to become more obvious. There were changes in sea levels as well as more pronounced differences in summer and winter temperatures. However, while climate change could clearly affect the survival or extinction of living species, it seems unlikely that this would bring about a sudden demise, which brings me to the second major theory: extensive volcanic activity. At the end of the Cretaceous, several parts of the world were experiencing huge amounts of volcanic activity. The best evidence of this is the Deccan Traps, a massive set of flood basalts located in eastern India.
The third, and most dramatic, theory involves the impact of a comet or asteroid. There are several lines of evidence to support this theory including the discovery of the K-T Boundary, which contains large amounts of Iridium. This element is rare on Earth but common in asteroids. In 1990, what's though to be the crater caused by this impact was found off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. | |
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JD-man Pachycephalosaurus
Posts : 302 Reputation : 2 Join date : 2016-06-08
| Subject: Re: Dinosaur extinction theories Sat Jan 21, 2017 2:24 am | |
| Hope this helps: https://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G104/lectures/104extinct.html | |
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Minmi Ceratosaurus
Posts : 169 Reputation : 3 Join date : 2017-01-16 Location : Waterfall City, Dinotopia
| Subject: Re: Dinosaur extinction theories Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:54 pm | |
| Thankyou, JD-man, for providing this link another interesting article. _______________ The traditional greeting of Dinotopia: "Breathe Deep, Seek Peace"
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JD-man Pachycephalosaurus
Posts : 302 Reputation : 2 Join date : 2016-06-08
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: Dinosaur extinction theories Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:52 pm | |
| Of course what killed the most successful group of animals in history is a fascinating one and has always interested me, but personally, I find the Permian-Triassic mass extinction even more fascinating subject. Even if there are multiple theories around the K-T boundary, the asteroid is overwhelmingly the number one candidate, whereas in P-T boundary there are far more question marks. Not only because of it happening almost 200 million years earlier, and the multiple routes the chaos seemed to take, but because of the immense loss of life both in sea and land. K-T was like child's play in comparison to that total annihilation... not that it's a contest but still Also finding answers to the Permian disaster might just give insight to what might happen to the planet in the future. Perhaps we are even now living the much theorized sixth major mass extinction but cannot clearly see it with our limited sense of time passing by. But even if such doesn't happen, there will be minor extinction periods along the way, just like they periodically appear to happen. With or without our own "help". How many humans will get to see before their own extinction or evolution into something else remains to be seen. |
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