Dinosaur extinction
Delighted to see a new confirmation of the postulated dinosaur-killing effect of the meteor (or comet) that splashed into Chicxulub on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula millions of years ago. University of Texas geophysicists, who have helped map the ocean floors, did quite a bit of work on the remains of the crater—all hidden today by water and rock but still discernible with radar.
Posted: March 9th, 2010 under Science/Engineering, South of the Border, Space, Texana.
Tags: Chicxulub, dinosaur-killer, Texas geophysics
Comments
Comment from Dick Stanley
Time March 9, 2010 at 6:43 AM
That’s a political view, I’m afraid. Real scientists always keep things open to new evidence.
Comment from Veeshir
Time March 9, 2010 at 8:35 AM
Yeah, that’s settled, until they come up with a new theory.
I’ve become less sure that scientists who talk about the Earth of hundreds of millions to billions of years ago know what they’re talking about.
Dinosaurs went from cold-blooded, slow moving reptiles to warm-blooded, precursers to birds.
They died off because of an ice age, no an asteroid.
My prediction? The next “reason” the dinosaurs died was because an alien migration stopped by for a nosh.
Comment from Dick Stanley
Time March 9, 2010 at 8:57 AM
This was about sixty million years ago, but they have pretty good indirect evidence, in addition to geological strata and fossils. Also the outlines of the crater and its similarity to others on the planet are clear. Something created it. Whether it killed the dinos, though, well…
Comment from Veeshir
Time March 10, 2010 at 8:04 AM
As you say, I’m not denying a huge asteroid hit the Earth at that time and place, I’m just saying I’ve seen too many changes in stuff like this to think this is the final theory.
Nat Geo, in 04, seemed to deny this
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0309_040309_chicxulubdinos.html
The Chicxulub impact hit Yucatán about 300,000 years before the mass extinction. Another impact occurred at the time of the mass extinction,” she said.
I’m still going with hungry aliens pulling over for a bathroom/breakfast break.
What would make it funniest would be that early man killed them off because they tasted like chicken.
And everybody owes Gary Larson and Ringo Starr an apology.
Comment from SnoopyTheGoon
Time March 9, 2010 at 5:54 AM
At least this part of natural history is settled.