Theories Of The Extinction Of Dinosaurs

So what killed the dinosaurs? Without having any background education in science it is hard for the general public to comprehend such matters and they rely on the knowledge of the scientists in this field. Although there has been much research on the subject nobody has come up with a conclusive answer. And we are left to read the countless articles, all having their own opinions as to the mass extinction. One such theory is that a shift in the solar system could have caused the mass destruction. According to an article published in Nature magazine,

The main dinosaurs that died off were Sauropod dinosaurs, long necked, four legged dinosaurs, and stegosauridae, class holding Stegosaurus. Other species that died include ammonites, similar to the living animals called nautilus, many marine reptiles, and bivalves, relatable to modern mollusca. Not much is known about this extinction. It is mainly linked to climate change. So far, no connection to volcanic activity or an asteroid has been made. This extinction gave way to the Cretaceous Period.

Dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 65 million years and thankfully for the human race, they became extinct. Ultimately, only a major catastrophe could completely wipe out an entire species, let alone an entity of dinosaurs and the debacle on the causes of dinosaur extinction have flooded the minds of paleontologists for centuries. Geologist and zoologist Stephen Jay Gould published “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” to compare scientific and speculative causes of dinosaur decimation. Personally, I found this passage very informational and enjoyed reading it. Gould provides three theories that capture the reader’s curiosity, allowing room for pondering in one’s mind.

The dinosaurs died about sixty-five million years ago. There has been many theories about how the dinosaurs became extinct. Some of

In Stephen Jay Gould’s “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”, Gould investigates three possible theories hypothesizing the reason behind the extinction of dinosaurs. The first theory suggests that dinosaurs became extinct due to a rise in temperature, which caused sperm to die, leading to the sterilization of male dinosaurs. The second hypothesis offer that many dinosaurs consumed bitter plants that contained psychoactive agents which their lives could not detoxify out of their systems. The last speculation about the dinosaur’s extinction is that a large cloud of dust formed in the atmosphere after an asteroid hit Earth’s surface. This dust cloud blocked out the sunlight, causing temperatures to drop and made photosynthesis impossible. Gould uses these three theories to lead to his central claim that science isn’t just about making fascinating claims, but should have a well developed hypothesis.

Nobody knows for sure exactly how the dinosaurs became extinct. However scientists have speculated for decades about possible events that caused the dinosaurs to die out. Possibilities range from asteroids, to volcanoes, to climate changes. One of the more popular or well-known extinction theories involves the belief that an asteroid struck the Earth, causing devastating effects, and triggering mass extinctions around the end of the Cretaceous period.

Since the 1980s the most popular theory for why dinosaurs became extinct was because of a meteor, but many people are skeptical of whether or not the meteor was the only factor in the extinction of the dinosaurs. In Stephen Brusatte’s “What Killed the Dinosaurs,” Dr. Brusatte talks about how the mystery of the extinction of the dinosaurs was a hug influence on his life and caused him to become what he is today. As a teenager Brusatte had a chance to talk to Walter Alvarez, the man who proposed the idea of a meteor being the cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Alvarez was able to come up with this hypothesis by examining the clay band between the Cretaceous period and the Paleogene period. The Cretaceous period was a time when the Earth had a surplus amount of dinosaurs and the Paleogene period was the time period directly after the Cretaceous period where dinosaurs had become extinct. When Alvarez studied the clay band he had discovered that the band was saturated in iridium which is an element common on meteors and asteroids. This led him to believe that a meteor may have led to the downfall of the dinosaurs.

Another theory, “psychoactive overdosing,” was proposed by UCLA psychiatrist Robert K. Siegel. He claims that angiosperms, or flowering plants, produced “an array of amino-acid-based alkaloids,” which dinosaurs would unconsciously eat and end up dying. This theory believes that dinosaurs did not have the livers nor the bitterness taste buds to notice and detoxify the psychoactive agents in the angiosperms. Last, but not least, a theory of a collision that came upon earth 65 million years ago. Father and son, Luis and Walter Alvarez, reconstructed a scenario that explained the death of dinosaurs on land, and proposed that a giant dust cloud darkened the earth; causing photosynthesis to discontinue, followed by a drastic temperature drop (pg. 452). Any hypothesis theory is a big contradiction. It is useful with all the advantages it has, yet it can be a disadvantage when an answer can never be found. While the first two theories of extraterrestrial catastrophe are captivating, the “disaster” theory seems more likely reasonable. The asteroid theory is the most developed answer based on the source of testable evidence of iridium – as it proves the dissimilarity of speculation and science when it was found

The biggest mystery surrounding the dinosaur is how did they die? For over 130 million years dinosaurs ruled the earth. Then 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, they died out.

The most well-known extinction event is when the dinosaurs went extinct, although they are not the only organism that perished. This event took place about 65 million years ago, between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods and wiped out nearly 75% of plants and animals (Principles of Biology). Our book says that most dinosaurs and many other sauropsid lineages died, but many lineages survived, including bird. Crocodiles are lineage of dinosaurs and are often studied to see how they have changed over millions of years, turtles are also part of the lineage that survived. Asteroid impact hypothesis which can be found in class rooms, some textbooks and on TV or in movies has been well explained and accepted as the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs. There is geological evidence that supports a large asteroid creating the Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, but the supposed consequences of the event alone cannot account for the major extinctions (Principles of Biology). They say that something else had to also happen in order for all the diversity of animals that became extinct, which would be expected when such a large object impacted earth at what is thought to have been at a high speed too. Changes in sea level and massive volcanic eruptions were also altering the environment, so all this combined is likely what cause the diversity in the extinction event (Principles of

Some dinosaurs were covered with a type of body armor, and some probably had feathers, like their modern bird relatives. Some moved quickly, while others were lumbering and slow. Most dinosaurs were herbivores, or plant-eaters, but some were carnivorous and hunted or scavenged other dinosaurs in order to survive.At the time the dinosaurs arose, all of the Earth’s continents were connected together in one land mass, now known as Pangaea, and surrounded by one enormous ocean. Pangaea began to break apart into separate continents during the Early Jurassic Period (around 200 million years ago), and dinosaurs would have seen great changes in the world in which they lived over the course of their existence. Dinosaurs mysteriously disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 65 million years ago. Many other types of animals, as well as many species of plants, died out around the same time, and numerous competing theories exist as to what caused this mass extinction. In addition to the great volcanic or tectonic activity that was occurring around that time, scientists have also discovered that a giant asteroid hit Earth

One major theory explaining the disappearance of dinosaurs is the Alvarez hypothesis, or the asteroid impact theory. Walter Alvarez and his father discovered an atypical large clay layer at the K-T boundary, or the event of the extinction of dinosaurs, in Italy. The clay layer contained a high level of the element iridium. Iridium is found in the earth's crust, but it is very rare. However, iridium is very common in meteorites and asteroids. So Alvarez and his father assumed that an asteroid must have struck the earth causing the disappearance of dinosaurs (Ducharme).

The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, also known as the K-T extinction, was a global extinction event that struck the Yucatan Peninsula at the end of the end of the Mesozoic Era, 65 million years ago. Walter Alvarez first discovered a meteorite big enough to be called a small asteroid that hit the Earth, creating the Chicxulub crater. Once the asteroid struck the North American continent, there were igneous rocks underneath the crater that contained high levels of a rare siderophile element, iridium. This catrostopic event had a massive effect on the environment, as several mammals, birds, and plants became extinct. It also caused an impact winter that made it impossible for plants and plankton to photosynthesis, as 75% of inland animals and 90% of marine species were affected. Not only did it cause an impact winter, but the asteroid also caused volcanic eruptions, climate change and sea level rise. Geologists have also found rich dinosaur, plant and marine fossils to illustrate the K-T extinction. This event not only caused species to become extinct, but it also had an adaptive radiation, as other species were able to diversify.

Dinosaur extinction: An analysis of events and theories that possibly led to the dinosaurs' demise.

Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene