Maybe an asteroid didn't wipe out the Dinosaurs after all

Just spotted this on the web. It claims that there is some new evidence which suggests a space rock didn't knock off almost all species (and that it was huge volcanic eruptions) 65 million years ago...

Yahoo News Article .

Seanie.

Another case of scientists who don't connect the dots, or just publicity hounds? It seems to me that they haven't pinned down the timing sufficiently to support any sweeping statements, certainly not the ones that journalists love - which is why these things are better published in scientific journals than the mass media.

My immediate reaction is to ask whether the scientists can show that the Deccan eruptions happened before, at the same time as or after the Chicxulub impact? It stands to reason that a major surface impact would create shockwaves in the magma below that might have a significant effect on other parts of the planet. If the Deccan eruptions occurred at the same time as the impact or afterward then they may have been one of its consequences. It would make sense and the answer would be worth knowing.

The Yukatan strike occured DURING the Deccan eruptions.

There is a real possibility that two asteriods hid the earth.

A very large one first might have punched a hole right through the earth's crust into the molten mantle, releasing thousands of cubic miles of magma.(And destroying the strike evidence.)

A smaller one on a similar path hit Yukutan later.

Lots of arterouds follow similar paths because they suffer similar disruptions by Jupiter.

Peter.

Hi Seanie
Since what has been termed the “Cambrian Explosion” (~540 Million years ago, [explosion in terms of many diverse multi-cellular life forms appearing suddenly, i.e., within ~30 million years of that geological time period as shown in the fossil record]) evidence thus so far known shows that there have been five major mass extinctions on Earth with various hypothesised causes and complications attributable based on current research, meteor/comet impacts been cited for one or more mass extinctions.
What’s also interesting for me as an amateur astronomer is the possibility of the dangers of what lies out there in space in the form of black holes, Nova / Supernova, Neutron stars, planets that may have been ejecting from their solar systems due to various cataclysmic factors and are now akin to a cosmic billiard ball. It takes the Solar System about 225–250 million years to complete one orbit and so it is thought to have completed about 20–25 orbits during its lifetime, the sun also bobs in and out of the galactic plane, there is the possibility of our solar system perhaps encountering any of these dangers, but then again space is big, very very big, perhaps as they like to say on the discovery channel, “It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when”.
However I am more concerned with the sixth mass extinction happening already in the form of human overpopulation, deforestation, accelerated extinction of plants and animals, pollution of the biosphere, nuclear, biological, chemical and EM weapons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion
www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetear..._sidebar_000907.html
www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/eldredge2.html

Clear skies
Mike

By the way,

The famous Iridium Layer which is the smoking gun of the Yukatan impact goes right through a Deccen lava layer.

This proves that that the Mexican impact occured during the Deccan eruptions.

(This story is an ancient one by the way. Nothing new about this discussion.)


Peter.

The Yukatan strike occured DURING the Deccan eruptions.

There is a real possibility that two asteriods hid the earth.

A very large one first might have punched a hole right through the earth's crust into the molten mantle, releasing thousands of cubic miles of magma.(And destroying the strike evidence.)

A smaller one on a similar path hit Yukutan later.

Lots of arterouds follow similar paths because they suffer similar disruptions by Jupiter.

Peter.

Good point. A series of hits over a long time span could do it.