Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant. INTRODUCTION The K-T Extinction occurred 65 million years ago. Many species perished in that extinction. Today evidence for this extinction can be seen
For many years geologist had bunch of theories as to how the dinosaurs died. Dinosaurs roamed the earth for 160 million years until their sudden demise about 65.5 million years ago, an in event known as the cretaceous tertiary extinction event, according to History.com. They had a few vast ideas like the Gamma Ray Burst Theory, the Asteroid Theory, and the Climate Change theory. But yet there isn’t much proof on what really killed the dinosaurs. There were other not so good theories that geologist
Extinction of Dinosaurs due to Asteroid Impact Nobody knows for sure exactly how the dinosaurs became extinct. However scientists have speculated for decades about possible events that caused the dinosaurs to die out. Possibilities range from asteroids, to volcanoes, to climate changes. One of the more popular or well-known extinction theories involves the belief that an asteroid struck the Earth, causing devastating effects, and triggering mass extinctions around the end of the Cretaceous
The Role of Fungus in the Extinction of Dinosaurs The debate over what ultimately killed off the dinosaurs is an area of great interest to not only scientists, but everyone. The dominant thought seems to be that an asteroid struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous period and killed off much of the fauna and flora inhabiting the earth. However, the sequence of events following that mass extinction has been fairly blurry until a recent discovery, published in a recent issue of Science, by
Chicxulab crater predates the mass extinction by roughly 300,000 years. Rather, the evidence suggests that two or more impacts caused the mass extinction experienced by dinosaurs. Fossil records inform us that the mass extinction occurred 65 million years ago. This landmark coincides with and marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. There appeared to be relative consensus among scientific professionals that an asteroid impact caused the mass extinction. According to this theory, “debris
period through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods until eventually becoming extinct along with the rest of the earth’s population at what is now known as the KT boundary event. The KT boundary event was the mass extinction that occurred at some point in time between the Cretaceous (K) and the Tertiary (T). This is famous because it marks the end of the 160 million years of dinosaur life. The theory is that asteroid rock hit the earth and caused the mass extinction. 1 Pterosaurs are commonly thought
rely on the knowledge of the scientists in this field. Although there has been much research on the subject nobody has come up with a conclusive answer. And we are left to read the countless articles, all having their own opinions as to the mass extinction. One such theory is that a shift in the solar system could have caused the mass destruction. According to an article published in Nature magazine, “A bizarre wobble 65 million years ago, perturbing the orbits of Mars, Earth and Mercury, may have
spewing out noxious gas and ash, that effectively blocked out the sun killing off most vegetation and breaking the food chain, leaving the dinosaurs to starve. Compared to other groups of animals the dinosaurs were the most vulnerable to such a climatic event and the result was the end of the dinosaurs’ glorious evolutionary history. What is a Dinosaur? The main group of animals that went extinct during this time, leaving smaller reptiles, birds, and mammals, were the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs dominated the
The Dinosaur Extinction It has been only a few million years since human existence started on this planet, these few million years are considered very less when compared with the planet earth’s existence. Many creatures walked this planet and dominated other species before evolution of human beings. One such species were the dinosaurs, dinosaurs have been the center of human interest since the day their fossils were discovered by the zoologists. Many experiments and researches were conducted and
the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed
triggered mass extinctions on the lands and in the oceans so profound that they define the geological boundary between the older Mesozoic Era, often called the "Age of Reptiles," and the modern Cenozoic Era, the "Age of Mammals." On a finer scale, the extinctions define the boundary between the Cretaceous (geological symbol, "K"), and Tertiary ("T") periods. This mass extinction is usually referred to as the K-T extinctions. The dinosaurs became extinct during the K-T mass extinction. To examine how
Over the years of evolution, we have had mass extinctions. The Cretaceous mass extinction or also know as the extinction of dinosaurs was a significant event that took place in earth’s history timeline. If we have an AAA god, why did he create this species to exterminate it? Was this a sign of error? Notice how dinosaurs are extinct, but they once existed
terrestrial life forms were also greatly affected. All major groups of oceanic organisms were affected with the crinozoans (98%), anthozoans (96%), brachiopods (80%) and bryozoans (79%) suffering the greatest extinction (McKinney, 1987). The world, today, is alive because of the remaining 10 percent. The events that took place were in phases and some of the causes were an asteroid hitting the earth, sea level fluctuations flood basalt eruptions, a drop in oxygen levels from the acid rain caused by volcanic
Theories about the extinction of dinosaurs One thing is for sure, dinosaurs don’t exist any longer. Now the question is, what happened to them? Did they all die? Did they all leave earth? Many theories have been put forward to explain the disappearance of this magnificent creatures. Some of the various theories proposed include; The big bang theory The big bang theory argues that the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs was as a result of an asteroid from space that crashed into earth some 66 million
Cretaceous Extinction Event Causes, Evidence, and Effects on Biodiversity The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused
specifics of how Earth came to be, we do know the sequence of many happenings that took place. Knowing this will help us further our research in finding once and for all the true answer to the formation of Earth. Life on Earth, the sequence of certain events, and the various theories that have sprung up all either have helped to change Earth or to explain the Earth’s changes. Earth is a very unique planet. It is currently the only planet in our solar system capable of sustaining life. It has liquid water
Late Devonian Mass Extinction: Conodonts Introduction The Late Devonian mass extinction that takes place at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary is considered as one of the Big 5 mass extinctions (McGhee, 1998). Life at this time experienced huge losses among many different marine groups such as: brachiopods, molluscs, trilobites, conodonts, fish, as well as other organisms. In order to pinpoint a cause for the mass extinction both physical and geochemical processes have been looked at. The usual
The mass extinction of the dinosaurs is still a mystery today, but there are some theories today that suggest what happened. One of the more widely accepted theories is the asteroid theory. This theory suggests that an asteroid with an approximate diameter of 6-15 km, hit the earth with a force of five billion atomic bombs. Another theory that they believe could of happened is the volcano theory, that many volcanoes erupted and wiped the dinosaurs out. Even though we don't know what happened for
Mysteries are so fascinating because mysteries are like taking unknown information, discovering it, and making it known. Discovering why dinosaurs went extinct is looking into the discovery of their extinction and why they are extinct. Dinosaurs were the largest reptiles known to man, and around 65 million years ago, dinosaurs became extinct. Two-hundred and thirty million years ago the first dinosaur-like creature roamed the earth. These creatures were the top of the food chain, and it is crazy
Theories on Dinosaur Extinction What killed the dinosaurs? Several theories have been brought up over time to answer this question. It has been of vast interest to many scientists how creatures the size of the dinosaurs could have been wiped out of existence. Proposed Theories Climate Change Theory Some scientists propose that climate change was killing the dinosaurs before the famous asteroid struck. Fossil evidence shows that the average temperature had dropped from 25 degrees Celsius