It has long been believed that an asteroid impact with Earth ended the era of the dinosaurs, but researchers have revealed that a more fundamental process may have played a bigger role in the extinction of the dinosaurs. It was generally considered the first.
About 6.6 million years ago, when an asteroid 10 to 15 km wide hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the collision wreaked havoc. The collision resulted in forest fires, earthquakes, and massive tsunamis that destroyed ecosystems that allowed plants and animals to thrive.
In a new report published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers believe that while these other impacts may have severely damaged hundreds of dinosaur species, the role of another impact was overlooked in previous studies. That is, billions of tons of dust that would have spread into the atmosphere after the asteroid hit the earth.
Belgian researchers believe the asteroid triggered a ‘global winter’ as dark clouds of dust filled with sand and sulfur particles spread into the atmosphere, blocking the sun’s rays from reaching Earth and causing global warming. The Earth’s surface temperature dropped to 15 degrees Celsius.
Plants may have had difficulty surviving due to low light, which starved herbivores and deprived carnivores of prey. Due to lack of food, 75% of the organisms died out.
It is believed that the amount of dust in the atmosphere was about 2,000 gigatons, 11 times the weight of Mount Everest.
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Researchers created a computer-aided environment using material from the bottom of a fossil site in North Dakota, where they found that the dust can block sunlight from reaching the Earth for up to two years and possibly 15 years. can remain in the atmosphere for years, limiting the ability of plants to produce energy and destroying natural ecosystems.
Studies show that although the initial impact of the asteroid impact on Earth was severe, it did not kill the dinosaurs immediately, but rather gradually over a period of years.
Other researchers believe that the impact of an asteroid hitting the Earth could be similar to that of a nuclear bomb.
In a report published last year led by Louisiana State University professor Cherley Harrison, researchers said smoke and black carbon could have reached the atmosphere and blocked sunlight from reaching Earth, resulting in a ‘nuclear explosion’. The resulting ‘Little Ice Age’ may have begun.
Although the dinosaurs died out catastrophically about 6.6 million years ago, their extinction may have been important for the development of the human race.
“Dinosaurs dominated the Earth when the asteroid hit and were living comfortably,” says study co-author and planetary scientist Philip Claes.
‘I don’t think mammals, including us, would have become the dominant species on this planet without this collision.’
#Research #solves #mystery #dinosaur #extinction
2024-10-03 21:49:21
