The Asteroid That Killed The Dinosaurs

Approximately 65 million years ago, about two-thirds of all species on Earth, including dinosaurs, became extinct in one of the planet’s largest mass extinction events. There are many theories in investigating what could have caused the majority of species being ruled out. It had to have been from a catastrophic asteroid that lead to major climate change. With the research Luis Alvarez made trying to prove his hypothesis it supports that an asteroid key have been the key trigger. What caused the wipe out from these species was the certain events that led one after the other. After doing some research it goes to show, that it wasn’t declared by survival of the fittest, rather survival of the luckiest.

Luis Alvarez, a physicist widely known for

Yucatán still holds evidence from the impact till this day now. Cenotes are sinkholes that were formed from chemical weathering of limestones that undermined the surface of rock that later collapsed (Stanley, Lucjaz 440). Cenotes surround Yucatán Peninsula, preferentially around the crater. This is how iridium from the impact's fiery explosion was able to be spread all over the world, followed by settling to produce a thin layer of this rich sediment closely on all depositional envionments (Stanley, Luczaj 440). Using similar techniques to date the dramatic changes in the record of microscopic fossils, researchers have found that the impact from the asteroid and the dinosaur extinction could have occurred nearly

Within Keller et. al. article, they argue that volcanoes is the most probable reason for the demise of these creatures. He discusses the geographical forms of the Deccan volcanoes in India in order to prove his point. Within India, the Deccan volcanoes, which have the height of around 3500 kilometers. This immense height was caused from million of years of the cooling lava. One single eruption of these volcano causes a lava flow of around 1000 km, making it the longest lava trail in the world. This information was discovered prior to any of the astroid theories. The magnitude in which these volcanoes erupt can cause immense amounts of damage to everything around them. Regardless of their strength and height, dinosaur still cannot swim in lava, thus beginning the mass extinction of these creatures. Within this study, Keller et al. utilizes biostratigraphy. This is a method in which each layer of rock is tested to see if the oldest layer can be traced back to the time of the mass extinction. Even though this process is used frequently, it is difficult to estimate because of the amount of variable that could cause inconclusive