Dinosaur Extinction Pinpointed in Historical Timeline

For a few different reasons, the 'what' and 'when' of the natural prehistoric genocide that cleansed this rock of 99% of its reptilian inhabitants has remained unclear. But not anymore. A team of researchers have spent the last two years pondering and poking the mystery, putting all the pieces together with an illuminating result that finishes one more chapter of this planet's extensive backstory.

After reviewing the evidence, which included radioisotope dates from the fossil record and scattered impact debris, as well as measurements of a 100-mile-wide crater in the Gulf of Mexico--the researchers concluded that the answer was yes, to both questions.

But that didn't settle the matter entirely. Some scientists pointed to evidence of volcanism, climate change, or other potential causes for the dinosaurs' demise; others weren't convinced that the two events--impact and extinction--really occurred around the same time.

www.popsci.com...

I'm not exactly a fan of dinosaurs ("Gimme back my sandwich, Rex! Bad dinosaur!") but this article caught my attention. It's another step toward chronicling the complete history of Earth, from conception to the beginning of recorded history. If there's anything cooler than the future, it's studying the footsteps that brought us there.

Sound off, ATS!

reply to post by AfterInfinity


thanks for sharing - it will be great to see more depth on this when it's available
SnF obvs

reply to post by AfterInfinity


S&F Cool post!

In fact, the evidence itself didn't support the idea that the events were contemporaneous: debris from the impact dated the catastrophe to 180,000 years before the end of the dinosaurs.

Really interesting. I wonder if we'll ever know..

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I've often wondered if Panspermia could have been the root cause in some of Earths extinctions? Exposing Earths inhabitants to a new form of germ/bacteria etc, which our endogenous species had little or no resistance to. Which eventually became part of or incorporated into our modern genome.

If it possibly happened once why would it be considered impossible to presently happen again or maybe it did in earlier recorded human history?

Something to chew on...

reply to post by AfterInfinity


It's interesting you chose that specific term...

For a few different reasons, the 'what' and 'when' of the natural prehistoric genocide that cleansed this rock of 99% of its reptilian inhabitants has remained unclear.

By definition...that is...

gen·o·cide /ˈjenəˌsīd/ - Noun - The deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

I have a little theory, that dinosaurs were indeed systematically and deliberately killed to make room for the seeding of Earth (due to its habitable environment and secluded location) with an experimental hybrid species comprised of other worldly DNA and indigenous DNA, the "why" part, I am still working on determining.

Man likes to tie everything up in little boxes with pretty bows. Something enticing about having a belief that you "know" something.

While each and every pet theory out there may or may not true, it would sure be nice to see words like "known" not used when it comes to these matters. We can't even be certain that a year has been remotely similar chronologically in the past, let alone all the unknowns that could cause deviations in measurements over the last 165 million years.

As well, consider that if dinosaurs were, indeed, warm blooded, they wouldn't be reptiles. Terrestrial birds is likely more appropriate.

reply to post by AfterInfinity


I been wondering about what happened to all the alligators,crocodiles and monitor lizards. Even turtles and birds such as chickens, eagles and ostrich's.

Now I guess I know. Good looking out!

Originally posted by RooskiZombi
reply to post by AfterInfinity

 

S&F Cool post!

In fact, the evidence itself didn't support the idea that the events were contemporaneous: debris from the impact dated the catastrophe to 180,000 years before the end of the dinosaurs.

Really interesting. I wonder if we'll ever know..

Why would you quote the previous result instead of the current result the article is about?

The researchers' measurements narrowed the asteroid strike to a range of 11 thousand years, between 66.03 and 66.04 million years ago, making it virtually simultaneous with the extinction.

The answer is we know now, but you seem to have missed that.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I don't see why not. It stopped the war of the worlds, right? Although evolution suggests that species would have adapted to environmental factors, so any bacteria matching that description would have to come from an outside source...i.e. outer space.

Aliens killed the dinosaurs!

Actually, dinosaurs are not reptiles.

Having gotten that out of the way, the PopSci article seems to be a bit misleading on several fronts. For one thing, the dinosaurs did not all fall over dead (*thud*) right after the asteroid hit. They went into a rapid decline that lasted tens of thousands of years and coincided with the rise of grasses and other types of plants that they couldn't use. So there's not probably just one reason, but rather a "tipping point" type of situation.

The Deccan Traps also played some part in the extinction event, as did a lot of other things.

And no, a disease did not wipe them out. There were hundreds (and hundreds) of different types of dinosaurs -- some as tiny as chickadees (birds) and a very few groups that were taller than many modern office buildings (titanosaurs... there were about 8 different kinds.) T-rex is quite different from Microraptor -- just as elephants are different than dogs.

I personally belived they all died with the flood 5000 years ago, er whatever

CAll me nuts!!!!!!!

reply to post by Arbitrageur

But that didn't settle the matter entirely. Some scientists pointed to evidence of volcanism, climate change, or other potential causes for the dinosaurs' demise; others weren't convinced that the two events--impact and extinction--really occurred around the same time.

I meant the actual cause of the downfall of the dinosaurs, not when.

My bad for quoting the wrong section

Originally posted by Byrd
Actually, dinosaurs are not reptiles.

I guess that's all in how you define them. For example, the page you reference tells me that clade Dinosauria is a member of the class Reptilia. Now, I know there are phylogenists who deny that Reptilia represents any useful name any longer, as far gone into paraphylogeny as it was, with turtles thrown in with snakes and so on. But there has never been a good argument for not including them under reptiles; it's not their fault that they later developed warm-bloodedness and other mammalian traits (as BigFatFurryTexan states); you could just as well exclude snakes for getting rid of legs. Just as, I suppose there was never a good argument for including them, excepting descent.

reply to post by RooskiZombi

I see...well I think we know that too now, at least it seems more clear than it did before. It seems they already had one foot in the grave so to speak when the meteorite hit, then the meteorite was the nail in the coffin.

An interesting question would be whether there would have been a higher survival rate of species from just the meteorite, if the volcanism hadn't put them in such a bad state already. The answer to that question would still seem to be unknown, and will probably remain so is my guess.