Death Of Dinosaurs Research Paper

744 Words2 Pages

For many years geologist had bunch of theories as to how the dinosaurs died. Dinosaurs roamed the earth for 160 million years until their sudden demise about 65.5 million years ago, an in event known as the cretaceous tertiary extinction event, according to History.com. They had a few vast ideas like the Gamma Ray Burst Theory, the Asteroid Theory, and the Climate Change theory. But yet there isn’t much proof on what really killed the dinosaurs. There were other not so good theories that geologist and other scientist used like the when the smaller dinosaurs ate other dinosaurs eggs and that reduced the dinosaurs reproduction growth. Another theory was that dinosaurs body's became too big for their small brains and they couldn't operate right. …show more content…

The asteroid theory is probably one of the most well known theories. In 1991, a massive meteor crater 110 miles in diameter was found off the edge of the yucatan peninsula, continuing to the coast of mexico. It was called the chicxulub crater. Scientist believe that the meteor that made the crater was about 6 miles in diameter, and struck the earth at 40,000 miles per hour, and released 2 million times more energy than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. The heat from it broiled the earth's surface, and sent wildfires all over the earth. Also it is most likely that it plunged the earth's atmosphere into a dark mixture of debri and ash covering everything in darkness. Mile high tsunamis washed over the continents and major shock waves would have caused volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The atmosphere would have been filled with tons of dust and ash that it would have made earth uninhabitable. All the plants would have died from no sunlight so the herbivores wouldn’t be able to eat so there would be less of them and there wouldn’t be many more dinosaurs to eat so carnivores wouldn't be able to eat and the air would cloud up and the dinosaurs wouldn't be able to breath. The Asteroid theory is what makes the most …show more content…

For many years climate change was the most credible explanation for the dinosaurs demise. The dinosaurs thrived in the humid, tropical temperatures and weather of earth. But then in the late mesozoic era that corresponds with the dinosaurs extinction, some evidence shows that the planet slowly became cooler. And evidence also shows that the north and south poles became covered with ice causing the ocean to colder than normal. Because the dinosaurs were cold blooded(meaning they obtain body heat from the sun and the hot, humid air) they could not survive the new colder temperatures and thus died, but climate change would have taken tens of thousands of years giving the dinosaurs time to adapt. So the Climate theory doesn't make much sense.

So agreement over dinosaur extinction is far from unanimous, and fossil’s continue to be found that adds to the knowledge about how dinosaurs lived and died. The climate change theory still holds sway over some scientist, that refute that the chicxulub impact was the major reason for the dinosaurs extinction. Some evidence from the 65-million-year-old lava flows in india hint that a giant, gaseous volcanic plume might have initiated global climate change that threatened and killed the dinosaurs. Scientist continue to research and make more conclusions on what killed

Open Document