According to a new study, a meteorite alone may not have been responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. Climate change triggered by massive volcanic eruptions could have played a significant role in their extinction. This challenges the traditional belief that the meteorite was solely responsible for the demise of these ancient creatures.
The study, titled “Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas,” was published in Science Advances and co-authored by Don Baker, a professor in McGill University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
The research team focused on the volcanic eruptions of the Deccan Traps, a vast plateau in Western India formed by molten lava. These eruptions released an enormous amount of rock, estimated to be around 1 million cubic kilometers, which may have had a significant impact on cooling the global climate approximately 65 million years ago.
The study involved researchers conducting fieldwork in the Deccan Traps to collect rock samples, which were then analyzed in England and Sweden.
In the laboratory, the scientists calculated the amount of sulfur and fluorine that was released into the atmosphere by the massive volcanic eruptions in the 200,000 years leading up to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
2023-11-27 19:41:03
Post from phys.org