Did Asteroids Really Do in the Dinosaurs?

Did Asteroids Really Do in the Dinosaurs

abcnews.go.com

Sixty-five million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid slammed into what's now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The impact, 2 million times more powerful than the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated, gouged out a 112-mile-wide crater and sent mega-tsunamis thousands of feet high in all directions.

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[edit on 24-5-2009 by kiwifoot]

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[edit on 5/24/2009 by semperfortis]

Plumes of superheated, incandescent dust broiled the earth's surface, igniting forest fires around the globe. Lingering, the dust probably blocked the sun for years – maybe decades – hindering photosynthesis and causing the food chain to collapse. Sixty-five percent of all living things disappeared.

For about 30 years, that's been the story of how the dinosaurs' 160-million-year reign came to an end. Now, two new controversial studies attempt to revise parts of this narrative.

The first, which appeared in the April 27 issue of Journal of the Geological Society, claims that, in fact, mass extinctions didn't occur until perhaps 300,000 years after the asteroid impact.
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The evidence: Marine sediments from around Mexico seem to show that 52 species present before the asteroid strike, a layer identified by blobs or spherules of melted glass, remained for quite some time after.

Scientist: We Overestimate the Asteroid's Effect on the Environment

Princeton University's Gerta Keller, a paleontologist who was lead author on the study, doesn't dispute that the asteroid hit and that it hurt. "I'm sure the day after, they had a headache," she says. But "we vastly overestimate the damage to the environment and to life that this Chicxulub impact had."

There are two issues here worth noting.

Firstly that if the dinosaurs could survive a huge asteroid strike, then hopefully humankind could too.

Secondly it's interesting to see main stream science react when a theory outside of the accepted version of events comes to light.

It may be interesting to keep a tab on Jim Fassett's career. you hear stories about academics being ridiculed and their careers destroyed for uttering such salacious hypotheses!


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[edit on 5/24/2009 by semperfortis]

I have a documentary on it somewhere its called something like "The day the earth nearly died".
And it was found to be a combination of things.
An Asteroid, Volcanoes and Methane gas seeping out from under the sea.

My personal opinion, and something I believe, is that ayres rock, Uluru if you will is infact a remenant or 'is' the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

the way the earths tiled, the barron scored centre of OZ... just plays on my mind that rock is 'unearthly'

no...no..NO.. Its real easy folks. Can you say flood ? sorry for the scarcasim but just get tired of hearing all the bogus theories. They are all found ( except for a few oddities like anything) in sedimentary deposits which are formed by our friend H2O.

Originally posted by Grayelf2009
no...no..NO.. Its real easy folks. Can you say flood ? sorry for the scarcasim but just get tired of hearing all the bogus theories. They are all found ( except for a few oddities like anything) in sedimentary deposits which are formed by our friend H2O.

A flood wiped out 90% of marine species, did it?

Originally posted by Grayelf2009
no...no..NO.. Its real easy folks. Can you say flood ? sorry for the scarcasim but just get tired of hearing all the bogus theories. They are all found ( except for a few oddities like anything) in sedimentary deposits which are formed by our friend H2O.

Aaah, so H2O is evil? Down with H2O. Let's get rid of all the H2O and make world a better place. I bet it would help global warming as well (although I'm not sure in which direction).

The Bible as well as several other books clearly document a flood occurring, And yes if a flood occurred it can kill massive amounts of marine species. You have the fresh water species that can't survive in salt water. you have the cold water salt species dying because of the increase in water mass you have increased temperatures. You have increased poisons in the water from all the sludge that is brought along with the water. Do I think it started raining like the bible said, and noah got on a boat, No. But even the geologic samples show there was a flood. It is proven. Could the flood occurred because of massive asteroid impacts? Would a large asteroid not cause a tsunamia? would it not destroy fresh water environments wherever it hit? would it nut kick up massive amounts of water that would take years dissipitate? would it not kick up large amounts of dust, causing more clouds and therefore more rain? Anything is possible. I think the best answer to be found is to go with a middle of the road philosophy, there was an asteriod, it killed stuff. There was a flood, it killed stuff too. Everything else is conjecture.

Just my 2 cents.

There are many theories on this one (like everything else).

My personal one, from the things I've watched or read about it is that dinos died out due to a lack of oxygen in the atmosphere.

Actually I believe birds are the decendants of the smaller dinos that could breath in the depleted atmosphere.

As to what caused the depleted atmosphere... yeah that could be the astroid or something else more terrestrial.

reply to post by The Last Man on Earth


Yes...you can see it in their coprolites....they all choked on all the silt in the water.

reply to post by moniker


lol....I like water too....just saying that was the cause

Have to pull this apart like 9/11.....as in evidence. Like the Vernal Utah site that has a mountain side full of dinosaurs all slammed together like cattle in a flash flood. Or the quarries in Wyoming,Germany and China. All have fish,feathers and fauna in perfect condition. That means a quick burial, so not to rot.

The Asteroid thing does not work for the simple fact that the blast area they say it made would have burned any thing in it to ash. Yet there are fossils where ever they keep saying this"Frank the happy Asteroid" hit.

The Asteroid thing does not work for the simple fact that the blast area they say it made would have burned any thing in it to ash. Yet there are fossils where ever they keep saying this"Frank the happy Asteroid" hit.

Doesn't take an Extinction Level Event to make a fossil. Such fossils could have been there before the impact occurred (or after)...

I don't think any scientists are stating it instantly wiped out so many...but that in addition to the normal blast, you'd have the equivalent of a nuclear winter, increased volcanic activity, a tsunami effect from the impact, etc. It's not just the impact but the chain of events after such a hit, that did in so many of the species...and it was like the 5th time it's happened in Earth's history...not an isolated event.

Eventually, that next time will roll around. Can't remember exactly, but I think the cycle was estimated at about roughly ever 80 million years...so if that's so, then we've got some breathing room...then again, it's all a cosmic crapshoot..... The number of people looking for such a thing couldn't staff a small McDonalds...so who knows when we'll be hit...

For one...that baby on your avatar is absolutely cute.

And for second, I was almost sure that the asteroid killed them off. So this is definetly crazy to hear. I wonder what really happened. Ill definetly be thinking about it for awhile.