
New analysis by an international team of scientists provides weight to the concept that the mass extinction occasion resulting in the demise of non-avian dinosaurs was not solely brought on by an asteroid impression however was influenced by pre-existing environmental challenges — The research focuses on sulfur ranges within the environment, presenting proof that earlier than the asteroid impression 66 million years in the past, the Earth was experiencing important volcanic exercise.
The researchers, led by College of Oslo geoscientist Sara Callegaro, analyzed rocks from the Deccan Traps, a large volcanic area in present-day West India. Utilizing a brand new measurement approach for sulfur concentrations, they discovered that volcanic sulfur degassing from this area may have led to repeated, short-lived world drops in temperature.
The Deccan Traps launched an immense quantity of molten rock, roughly a million cubic kilometers, with the sulfur-containing lava coinciding with the cooling Cretaceous local weather.
The sustained sulfur emissions from this volcanic exercise could have considerably altered the worldwide local weather, inflicting temperature fluctuations of as much as 10°C inside 100,000 years earlier than the asteroid impression.
Environmental Instability
The findings problem the normal narrative that attributes the extinction occasion primarily to the Chicxulub asteroid impression. As an alternative, the analysis means that the Earth’s weather conditions had been already unstable on account of volcanic exercise, making a collection of volcanic winters that might have lasted many years.
This environmental instability doubtless made survival difficult for each crops and animals, setting the stage for the eventual extinction of dinosaurs.
The research contributes to the continued debate between the asteroid and volcano theories relating to the reason for the mass extinction. Some researchers suggest that the asteroid impression triggered elevated volcanic exercise, whereas others recommend that volcanic exercise could have performed a task in serving to life get better from the asteroid strike.
The analysis underscores the importance of the Deccan Traps volcanism in shaping world weather conditions and its position within the lead-up to the mass extinction occasion.
Filed in Science.
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