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It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by JujuxG, Mar 6, 2010.

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  1. JujuxG

    JujuxG Member

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    wow i never knew, really?? :rolleyes:

    By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent

    LONDON (Reuters) – A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades.

    A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years' worth of research to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which created a "hellish environment" around 65 million years ago and wiped out more than half of all species on the planet.

    Scientific opinion was split over whether the extinction was caused by an asteroid or by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in what is now India, where there were a series of super volcanic eruptions that lasted around 1.5 million years.

    The new study, conducted by scientists from Europe, the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan and published in the journal Science, found that a 15-kilometre (9 miles) wide asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in what is now Mexico was the culprit.

    "We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the KT extinction. This triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale, and continental landslides, which created tsunamis," said Joanna Morgan of Imperial College London, a co-author of the review.

    The asteroid is thought to have hit Earth with a force a billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

    Morgan said the "final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs" came when blasted material flew into the atmosphere, shrouding the planet in darkness, causing a global winter and "killing off many species that couldn't adapt to this hellish environment."

    Scientists working on the study analyzed the work of paleontologists, geochemists, climate modelers, geophysicists and sedimentologists who have been collecting evidence about the KT extinction over the last 20 years.

    Geological records show the event that triggered the dinosaurs' demise rapidly destroyed marine and land ecosystems, they said, and the asteroid hit "is the only plausible explanation for this."

    Peter Schulte of the University of Erlangen in Germany, a lead author on the study, said fossil records clearly show a mass extinction about 65.5 million years ago -- a time now known as the K-Pg boundary.

    Despite evidence of active volcanism in India, marine and land ecosystems only showed minor changes in the 500,000 years before the K-Pg boundary, suggesting the extinction did not come earlier and was not prompted by eruptions.

    The Deccan volcano theory is also thrown into doubt by models of atmospheric chemistry, the team said, which show the asteroid impact would have released much larger amounts of sulphur, dust and soot in a much shorter time than the volcanic eruptions could have, causing extreme darkening and cooling.

    Gareth Collins, another co-author from Imperial College, said the asteroid impact created a "hellish day" that signaled the end of the 160-million-year reign of the dinosaurs, but also turned out to be a great day for mammals.

    "The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth's history, which ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant species on Earth," he wrote in a commentary on the study.

    (Collins has created a website at http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/Chicxulub.html which allows readers to see the effects of the asteroid impact.)

    (Editing by Myra MacDonald)
     
    #1 JujuxG, Mar 6, 2010
  2. Cohete Rojo

    Cohete Rojo Contributing Member

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    Am I missing something, but shouldn't this be in the hangout?
     
    #2 Cohete Rojo, Mar 6, 2010
  3. CometsWin

    CometsWin Breaker Breaker One Nine

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    Carl Everett disagrees
     
    #3 CometsWin, Mar 6, 2010
  4. Jontro

    Jontro Member

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    This is sad. I hope little foot and his friends weren't around.
     
    #4 Jontro, Mar 6, 2010
  5. Convictedstupid

    Convictedstupid Member

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    So they went from "we think an asteroid killed the dinosaurs" to "we really think an asteroid did it".


    Im glad 41 scientists could help make this break through discovery.
     
    #5 Convictedstupid, Mar 6, 2010
  6. Mr. Brightside

    Mr. Brightside Contributing Member

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    But who commanded the asteroid to wipe out the dinousaurs? God, Yahwew, Hashem. Yea, I thought so.
     
    #6 Mr. Brightside, Mar 6, 2010
  7. Dubious

    Dubious Contributing Member

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    The dinosaurs had to be removed to make way for a more intelligent design.

    Like tossing out a first draft.

    or


    When God was young he liked playing with dinosaurs but as he grew up he discovered girls.
     
    #7 Dubious, Mar 6, 2010
  8. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    You are on the wrong path because you didn't read the whole article.

     
    #8 justtxyank, Mar 6, 2010
  9. ItsMyFault

    ItsMyFault Contributing Member

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    So it supposedly hit the Yucatan peninsula. Hmm.. not too far away from Houston. :p
     
    #9 ItsMyFault, Mar 6, 2010
  10. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    But really... what is the political agenda of these supposed "expert" scientists? Why are they so panicked to convince us of this idea, which is really just a theory?

    The Earth's historical climate is very complex and has many different cycles involved. Scientific disagreement is normal and should be allowed to take it's course, without 40-something, or even 100-something scientists in suspicious lock-step trying to promote just one idea.

    Some scientists believe that natural variation in the solar energy output killed the dinosaurs.
     
    #10 B-Bob, Mar 6, 2010
  11. fadeaway

    fadeaway Contributing Member

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    I killed the dinosaurs.
     
    #11 fadeaway, Mar 6, 2010
  12. mc mark

    mc mark Contributing Member

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    Holy Dinosaurs! Does this mean we have to rethink the crucifixion?

    [​IMG]
     
    #12 mc mark, Mar 6, 2010
  13. roxstarz

    roxstarz Member

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    another theory who woulda thunk it. someone post the cool story bro pic.
     
    #13 roxstarz, Mar 6, 2010
  14. Bojangles

    Bojangles Contributing Member

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    You know.... in reality I think

    DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ NUTZ killed the dinosaurs.
     
    #14 Bojangles, Mar 6, 2010
  15. Surfguy

    Surfguy Contributing Member

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    Meanwhile, 65 million years later, man is being wiped out by a new killer one hundred trillion times worse than the asteroid hit...pizza.
     
    #15 Surfguy, Mar 6, 2010
  16. thegary

    thegary Contributing Member

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    Hello. How are you?
    Have you been alright, through all those lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely nights
    That's what I'd say. I'd tell you everything
    If you'd pick up that telephone yeah yeah yeah

    Hey. How you feelin?
    Are you still the same?
    Don't you realize the things we did, we did, were all for real, not a dream?
    I just can't believe
    They've all faded out of view yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

    Doowop dooby doo doowop doowah doolang
    Blue days black nights doowah doolang

    I look into the sky, the love you need ain't gonna see you through
    And I wonder why the little things you planned ain't coming true

    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight
    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight

    Ok. So no one's answering
    Well can't you just let it ring a little longer longer longer oh oh ooohhhhh
    I'll just sit tight through shadows of the night
    And let it ring for evermore oh oh ooohhhhh yeah yeah yeah

    Doowop dooby doo doowop doowah doolang
    Blue days black nights doowah doolang

    When I look into the sky, the love you need ain't gonna see you through
    And I wonder why the little things you planned ain't coming true

    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight
    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight
    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight
    Oh oh Telephone Line, give me some time, I'm living in twilight
     
    #16 thegary, Mar 6, 2010
  17. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    I can't wait for the next wave of geological WTFs. Screenplays and newspapers will be interesting again, just for a little bit.
     
    #17 Dairy Ashford, Mar 6, 2010
  18. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    You'd think a 6,000 year old crater that big might be a little more obvious.
     
    #18 KingCheetah, Mar 6, 2010
  19. Yak

    Yak Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    #19 Yak, Mar 6, 2010
  20. Depressio

    Depressio Contributing Member

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    Obviously they don't know the Truth. God created us in His image 10,000 years ago, and all this evidence was placed there to test humanity's faith. These scientists have failed this test and lost their faith, and will be burning in Hellfire for all eternity.
     
    #20 Depressio, Mar 6, 2010
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