Volcanoes in the loss of suspected dinosaurs

2009/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

Against the general conviction, dinosaurs were not lost by the impact of a meteorite, but by massive volcanic eruptions. This has been proposed by three research groups, analyzing some of the samples collected in India.

Researchers have shown that four major eruptions took place during the extinction of K/T. At that time many terrestrial and marine species were lost, including all the dinosaurs, which marks the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Tertiary. It was then that the meteorite's impact occurred, and since 1980-1990 most geologists have coincided with the hypothesis relating to shock and extinction.

However, at the meeting recently held by the American Union of Geophysics, the hypothesis of volcanic eruptions was presented at Princeton G University. International teams led by Keller. In the lava emitted by massive volcanic eruptions, numerous indications have been found that reinforce this hypothesis and have proposed that the main cause of extinction was sulfide dioxide that volcanoes emitted into the atmosphere.