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"Trapping" the Dinosaurs
In the ongoing tennis match between volcanism and impact theories about the extinction of the dinosaurs, it would appear today's serve comes from the Deccan Traps. The article's not particularly good at summarizing just what the scientist means by all this, Wikipedia's entry is, naturally, more informative.
Seems to me the most likely explanation would be the dinosaurs barely struggling through this awful millenia-long volcanic disaster, only to have the sky fall on them in the end.
I tend to see the Vulcanism vs. Meteorite Impact as not an "either/or" proposition, but a case where one effect comes from the other.
In other words, Big Friggin' Space Body impacts the Yucatan, throwing up an unimaginable amount of debris into the atmosphere, making effectively a nuclear winter for centuries.
AT THE SAME TIME...said impact also sends shockwaves throughout the crust and mantle of Earth's interior, triggering earthquakes and massive volcano activity.
= demise of the dinosaurs. The ones that hadn't already evolved into boids, that is.
Posted by: mark on May 7, 2009 11:17 AMI've often wondered about that too, but apparently the timing's all wrong. It *seems* the Deccan Traps started erupting several hundred thousand years before the KT event.
Posted by: scott on May 7, 2009 11:54 AMIn either order, I think it works. It's still an additive effect - we get the vulcanism (live long and prosper) causing all sorts of problems with rising heat. This puts significant stress on the system. Then, just as things are starting to level out, BAM, asteroid impact comes in and changes the climate in completely the opposite direction.
Kind of like a Pinto caught between two semis.
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on May 7, 2009 01:09 PMHeh... Ron: Mark will accuse you of a "Carrie-ism" next time he comes by here :).
Posted by: scott on May 7, 2009 01:18 PMNow that there needs some 'splainin', no?
Posted by: Ron ap Rhys on May 7, 2009 04:02 PM