| |
No one truly knows
how the dinosaurs became extinct, but the fact
is they disappeared and a whole host of ecological
niches were made available to other organisms,and
also still there is no exact evidences where found
for the extinction of dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs disappeared around 65 million years
ago, with many other land dwelling organisms also
dying out around this time. Regardless of what
killed off the dinosaurs, it was comprehensive.
The general consensus is that a major geological
event killed off many of the land dwelling organisms,
particularly the larger ones.This would have caused
an overall drop of biomass on land, and therefore
'less food to go round' all the organisms that
occupied dry land. Also, many food chain relationships
would have been disrupted, causing a gradual breakdown
of populations in the long term, sometimes leading
to extinction, essentially survival of the fittest.There
may be many causes fofr the extinction of this
whole giant animal,and some of them are discussed
below.Most dinosaur species decomposed in conditions
extinctions that occurred during the Mesozoic
Era. The further dinosaur species died out in
the number of mass extinctions that occurred in
the Mesozoic: at the ending of the Triassic (213
million years ago), in and at the ending of the
Jurassic (at 190, 160, and 144 mya), and in and
at the last part of the Cretaceous (at 120, 82,
and 65 mya).

Casualties
of the extinction:
A wide range of organisms became extinct at the
end of the Cretaceous period. The most conspicuous,
of course, were the dinosaurs. While there is
evidence that dinosaur diversity declined in the
Late Cretaceous of North America, many species
are known from the Hell Creek and Lance Formations
of the Late Cretaceous. These include six or seven
families of theropods and a similar number of
ornithischians. Among the Dinosauria, the only
survivors were the birds, but birds suffered heavy
losses. A number of diverse groups became extinct,
including the Enantiornithes and Hesperornithiformes;
the last of the pterosaurs also went extinct.
A number of mammal groups also became extinct.
In the sea, many species of phytoplankton were
wiped out. The great sea reptiles of the Cretaceous,
the mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, also fell victim
to extinction. Iridium is very rare on Earth's
surface, but much more common in the Earth's interior
as well as in extraterrestrial objects, such as
asteroids and comets. Furthermore, chromium isotopic
anomalies are found in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary
sediments which strongly support the impact theory
and suggest that the impactor must have been an
asteroid or a comet composed of material similar
to carbonaceous chondrites. The resulting blast
would have been hundreds of millions of times
more devastating than the most powerful nuclear
weapon ever detonated, may have created a hurricane
of unimaginable fury, and certainly would have
thrown massive amounts of dust and vapor into
the upper atmosphere and even into space.Although
further studies of the "Cretaceous-Tertiary"
or "K-T" layer consistently showed the
excess of iridium, the idea that the dinosaurs
had been exterminated by an asteroid remained
a matter of controversy among geologists and paleontologists
for over a decade.
Ozone
Depletion Theory:
The volcanic gases could have depleted the upper
atmospheres protective ozone layer. Base-skinned
creatures such as dinosaurs would have been particularly
vulnerable to the ultraviolet radiation. Furry
mammals, feathered birds, and selected sea creatures
must have had enough protection to account for
their survival.But this dinosaurs might be destroyed
due to this depletion in the ozone layer.
Epidemic
Diseases:
The oceans of the Cretaceous covered about 90%
of the land surface, forming vast shallow seas.
As these drained off, land bridges such as the
Bering Straits were created between formerly isolated
continents, allowing large animals to migrate
from one continent to another. Each population
of large animals had evolved with its own unique
parasites and diseases, and had developed a degree
of immunity to them. When populations mixed at
the close of the Cretaceous, each acquired and
succumbed to each other's diseases. Smaller animals
were spared simply because they were incapable
of such long migrations. Marine species died out
because the shallow seas dried up and went away.
Galactic
Dust:
It has been suggest that as our Solar System orbits
around the center of the Milky Way galaxy that
it might pass occasionally through clouds of unusually
thick galactic dust, or clouds of hydrogen gas.
Such clouds are known to exist within the galaxy,
so the possibility undoubtedly exists. It is further
planned that higher than normal concentrations
of dust declining into the Sun might cause it
to burn brighter and hotter, thereby increasing
the amount of solar radiation received by the
Earth, and leading to elevated temperatures and
overall warming. While all of this is entirely
possible, the problem with it as an extinction
theory is that there is no evidence to support
the idea that global warming caused, or was even
associated with, any of the major extinction episodes.
Chicxulub crater:
One problem was that no known crater matched the
event. This was not a lethal blow to the theory.
Although the crater resulting from the impact
would have been 150 to 200 kilometers in diameter,
Earth's geological processes tend to hide or destroy
craters over time.Most paleontologists now agree
that an asteroid did hit the Earth 65 million
years ago, but many disputes whether the impact
was the sole cause of the extinctions.
NEXT
|
|