The geological references are condensed more and more, that only an Asteroid for the massive extinction of many species about 66 million years ago, Vera word was that the dinosaurs fell victim to. Following the arguments of a recently published study, played the by the same time, in today’s India to be held in the massive flood volcanism triggered global changes in the environment of basalt only a minor role.
The possibility that an asteroid could have triggered a stroke, the mass extinction at the boundary between the Cretaceous and the Paleogene, was launched forty years ago by the father-and-son Team of Luis and Walter Alvarez from UC Berkeley into the game. The two had discovered in the of the geological outcrops in Italy, Denmark and new Zealand have a very high concentration of the element Iridium.
According to their hypothesis, the rare Element of a asteroid that vaporized on his impact on the earth largely came. The iridium-rich dust was spread by winds at Altitude in the world and was to be found in the part of only a few centimeters thick deposits on different continents.
As a long-lasting nuclear Winter
Since Iridium is not alone in the situation, more than half of all types of ocean creatures, as well as the large reptiles and many other species to kill on Land, speculated the two researchers also are concerned about a possible mechanism that could have led to the mass extinction. Although the term is not mentioned, compared to the consequences of impact with a long lasting nuclear Winter. The huge quantities of dust and particles generated during the impact and accumulate in the atmosphere, would have darkened the earth for decades, and has led to a significant cooling of the planet, which is destroyed in turn the basis of life for many species in a sustainable way.
Because the two researchers could not identify a corresponding impact craters on the earth, was put your hypothesis to the knowledge, but found no far-reaching recognition. On the contrary, other researchers have brought the extensive volcanic activity in India today, into the game. At the time, spilled into today’s Deccan trap to about 500,000 cubic kilometers of Lava on the earth’s surface. The exiting gases, especially sulfur and carbon dioxide, have changed the conditions of life fundamentally, they said.
However, it came to were as a result of this, about 700,000 years long-lasting outbreaks are not an extended cold period, but a period of massive global warming that the majority of species do not adapt. This hypothesis was not far-fetched, for at least two more by the massive extinction of species marked a caesura in the history of the earth be led to such a Flood volcanism back. The Transition from the Permian to the Trias in front of about 252 million years ago, as well as the intersection between the Trias and the Jura are a good 50 million years later.
