More than one event may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
65 million years ago, a cataclysmic event drove three-quarters of the species that lived on our planet to extinction. However, according to a report published by NewScientist, some scientists believe that, in fact, two different extinctions occurred, caused by separate events.
According to the article, the theory that a giant meteor - that hit the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico - caused the extinction of the dinosaurs is widely accepted and famous, but many researchers have always wondered if just this event would have been enough to lead to their disappearance. of these animals.
Thus, there are theories that gigantic volcanic explosions that occurred 100, 000 years earlier in India could have led to climate change that contributed to the extinction of numerous species in a catastrophic event prior to impact. The problem, unlike the meteor, was finding physical evidence of this episode.
Tailored Discoveries
But Thomas Tobin, a researcher at the University of Washington, seems to have found the necessary evidence to suggest that a first event may actually have begun the process of extinction of species that lived here on Earth millions of years ago.
Tobin found two layers of sediment in which there are numerous species of extinct animals, one dating from the time of the meteor impact, and a deeper one, approximately 150, 000 years earlier, coinciding with the time of the volcanic eruptions in India.
According to measurements, such eruptions caused a significant increase in ocean temperatures, and comparable numbers of creatures were extinguished in both events, although the species affected were different. According to Tobin, deep-sea species died during volcanic eruptions, while surface-dwelling species died after impact.
Thus, it seems that although the meteor had catastrophic consequences for the life forms that inhabited our planet, new evidence is emerging to reinforce the possibility that the extinction of so many species did not occur due to an event. isolated.
Source: NewScientist
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