My theme for my 2015 A to Z Challenge came from my
Disaster Crimes series. Disasters are a theme in each story, so it got me
thinking about all the disasters that occur from natural disasters to manmade
disasters.
Today’s
disaster is...
EXTINCTION
Sixty-five million years ago all dinosaur life on Earth
became extinct. More than half of the world’s species obliterated. How? Well,
that answer hasn’t exactly been answered. Most scientists lean toward an
asteroid or comet hitting the Earth. This theory is supported by a layer of rock
dated to the extinction event that is rich in the metal Iridium and is found
all over the world. Scientists believe this Iridium was scattered by the
collision of an asteroid or comet.
FACT: A
110-mile-wide crater in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula has since been dated to 65
million years ago. Many scientists believe it is this impact that caused the
dinosaur extinction.
Another theory is that volcano eruptions are responsible
since Iridium can be found in magma. Some scientists even believe both theories
could’ve been the cause. In either case, they all agree that dense clouds of
dust and toxins blocked out the sun’s rays, darkening and chilling the Earth.
When the dust settled, greenhouse gases caused the climate to skyrocket. The
freezing then boiling of the world is the ultimate cause of the death of 70% of
all plant and animal life on Earth.
QUESTION: Do you think it was an asteroid/comet or volcanic eruptions that caused the extinction of dinosaurs?
I think it was the Great Flood and they just missed the boat...
ReplyDeleteGood point. Noah might've needed a bigger arc to fight them too.
DeleteI wish I could respond with a photo. I found this funny one showing Noah's Ark next to the Titanic, filled with all sorts of dinosaurs.
DeleteThat picture would be perfect!
DeleteCracking at Alex's comment. LOL
ReplyDeleteI think asteroids though. But, who knows? Right? :)
You're right, Luz. Who knows? :)
DeleteI think it was from all that gas produced by those huge dinosaur digestive systems. Can you imagine??? lol
ReplyDelete@msdeniseh553
Life After Retirement - My Russian Adventure
Haha! Their gas probably was deadly. ;P
DeleteLOL - at Alex's comment. Clever X.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rhonda.
DeleteI agree with Alex! The Biblical flood explains a lot. Check out Answers in Genesis website for more truth:)
ReplyDeleteI'm not much into scientific explanations, but figured I'd stay with them for the dinosaur theory.
DeleteI'm glad I found someone else that bent the X rule a bit :-) My X entry is eXplore :-) I have to go with both. It was an asteroid hitting a volcano.
ReplyDeleteX is tricky. We have to bend the rules a little big with this one. :D
DeleteNice way of using both theories, Shawn!
Whatever it was, flood, asteroid/comet or volcanic eruptions, I just hope it doesn't happen again.
ReplyDeleteScribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge
I agree!
DeleteI'm leaning toward the asteroid explanation, unless there is evidence that enough volcanos erupted around the same time to produce these results. Tough question.
ReplyDeleteI'm also leaning toward the asteroid.
DeleteAt least some life survived, to carry on and evolve into what we are today!
ReplyDeleteAnnalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep
Yes, that's what is important.
DeleteI've always believed the asteroid theory, but in fact your more detailed explanation makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like this post, Jo. :)
DeleteThe asteroid theory is kind of scary, since it could happen again and there is really no way to stop it (other than sending Bruce Willis up, obviously).
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
As long as Bruce Willis is around, we could do that. ;P
DeleteAsteroid. It's interesting how so many of these disasters are related. Mother nature is an unforgiving miracle. Great post for 'X', Chrys!
ReplyDeleteYou got that right about mother nature.
DeleteThanks, Lisa!
Asteroid probably. But maybe aliens came and took them away so humans could rule lol
ReplyDeleteThat alien theory is an interesting one. Hmm... ;)
DeleteI think the asteroid triggered worldwide volcanic eruptions that caused the great extinction. There was also a theory the dinosaurs were already dying before it hit because of a disease/virus, and this is why the dinosaurs isolated on Australia lived longer than all the rest.
ReplyDeleteI never heard that theory but that could make sense.
DeleteI always assumed smoking cigarettes was the major cause of their extinction. That or gluten allergies.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Gluten allergies...I bet that was it. ;P
DeleteI think that Christine Rains' comments include some of the best ideas on this one - a combo of the two with a little disease thrown in for worse affect.
ReplyDeleteIf gluten allergies killed them . . . well, I'm out of luck.
Oh no, Tyrean! I think you're safe. :)
DeleteI tend to think asteroid. And yay, another eX for X post haha!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com/
eX posts are the best posts. ;P
DeleteHi Chrys - I think asteroid too ... but Christine's comment makes sense - creating violent eruptions ... and I hadn't realised dinosaurs lived longer on Australia .. but I do know about Continental Drift .. etc ... Extinction - some day it may happen again .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that they lived longer in Australia either.
DeleteI have no idea, but it's a great mystery and just makes me want to watch Jurassic Park. And lol@gluten allergies.
ReplyDeleteI love Jurassic Park!
DeleteI vote for the asteroid/comet disaster. Hubs reads physics books and we watch a lot of science programs, like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. A lot of dinosaurs are found in North America which would have been affected by an asteroid hit in Mexico. . .(Alberta Canada has the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller where many bones are excavated)
ReplyDeleteLook at all the asteroids which are near misses even now.
Seems that the asteroid/comet disaster is winning.
DeleteI like the asteroid/comet theory. Sounds a lot less painful for life on earth versus being burnt to death.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI think earth's environment somehow killed the dinosaur, but no fear, there is a dinosaur leftover. ME!
ReplyDeleteHaha!
DeleteSo like on the movie The Happening?
Alex has the best answer :) Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't think the world is as old as scientists make it to be. I know dinosaurs were here, but what happened to them? I don't know. I'm just glad some of them aren't here. Imagine encountering a T-Rex!
ReplyDeletebetty
Alex's answer was great.
DeleteNot knowing it actually a good answer too. :)
I honestly think it was caused by something we haven't discovered yet, but I have no idea what.
ReplyDeleteI just wish people weren't busily working on the next one. :(
You could be right, J.H. In fact, we may never know.
DeleteHere's what happened - I'm mostly sure (ha!). Something(s) hit the earth sending debris up into the atmosphere, blocking the sun for three days. (Biblically speaking - that's one day = 1000 years, which equals 3,000 years.) Here comes an ice age - oh no - that too? The years pass and the sun reappears, melting snow and ice. Meanwhile the clouds that had been saturated with debris, begin dropping that stuff everywhere, and are now raining an "acid rain" scenario. That helps the ice melt faster, and pretty soon the entire earth is covered in water. (Did it rain 40 days and 40 nights nights, or should that be 40,000 years?) Then the water covers the earth for 150 days... or should that be 150,000 years? Sorry - just having fun. Love this post!!
ReplyDeleteThat is an epic explanation, Dixie! LOVE IT!
DeleteWhen I was a kid I was really interested in dinosaurs and the thought that a meteor could hit us again and cause us all to die really scared me. Meteors could cause an extinction for sure and that's kinda scary.
ReplyDeleteKids are very impressionable. I was scared by a lot of things I learned or didn't understand as a kid.
DeleteI think something did hit the earth which caused major climate change. I don't think it was aliens:) I may tend to believe Gary Lawson's Far side though where they started smoking:)
ReplyDeleteAre you sure? It could've been a giant UFO crash-landing. ;P
DeleteI don't really know much on this subject to say what I think happened. I find it fascinating and a bit scary.
ReplyDelete~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
That's okay, Patricia. I appreciate your comment anyway. :D
DeleteWhatever caused the extinction I wonder if it could happen again and destroy everything on earth.
ReplyDeleteThose a question that others have mentioned here. I hope not! But it is possible...
DeleteExcellent post, Chrys! While I think that asteroids are a possible cause I have to go with Alex - the great flood :-)
ReplyDeleteHis explanation is a good one.
DeleteThis is great Chrys, we live on what is know as "The Jurassic Coast" because of all the fossils that are found.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed both the write and pictures.
Yvonne.
I'd love to visit The Jurassic Coast. :)
DeleteI sure do. Seems to fit like a hand in a glove. And there have been more mass extinctions of Earth. Hopefully there isn't on in our future.
ReplyDeleteI hope not, but they say there will come a time...
DeleteToo much red meat in the diet and/or cellulose intolerance would be my guess. But Alex's theory holds the greatest amount of water :D
ReplyDeleteToo much red meat. Haha! Good thing I'm a vegetarian. ;P
DeleteI like the premise of your blog. Sorry I discovered it so late in the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kat! :D
DeleteI think it was a meteor - what scares me is the thought that if this happens again, there's nothing we can do to stop it! A cheerful thought for a Tuesday night ;)
ReplyDeleteRachel Pattinson
Rachel's Ramblings - full of writing, tea and cake
Oh, a very cheerful thought. Now let's go watch a Disney movie. :D
DeleteA comet sounds more interesting! It makes you wonder if something like that will happen again...although I think mankind will wipe ourselves out.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite possible. Sadly.
DeleteI think it could have been both though I've also heard that there was more than one extinction event. I also believe it will happen again sometime. Yellowstone will erupt or a comet will get us.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it doesn't happen for a very, very long time.
DeleteWhatever happened, it was a nasty end for the dinosaurs. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, and there's not much we can do about another similar event... which is a thought that gets scarier the more you think it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll be lucky to do something like they did on Armageddon or the movie Meteor. Could happen, right?
DeleteChrys,
ReplyDeleteIt was probably a combo of things and Earth will probably see those kinds of changes again. I beleive all things of this magnitude come in cycles.
Sunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/
A combo of things makes sense.
DeleteMaybe it was both, plus other things we don't know about. Everything just piled on until the planet started changing, which killed off the different species. Who knows, it could happen again.
ReplyDeleteThat's a smart theory, J E. Many agree with you. :)
DeleteI'm going with both. The impact could easily have shifted the tectonic plates and caused the volcanoes to go nuts.
ReplyDeleteSean at His and Her Hobbies
Very true, Sean.
DeleteGreat choice for an X disaster. I was wondering what you would come up with. Hard to say what killed off the dinosaurs, but the comet theory does seem to make sense.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shell! :D
DeleteThe theories are fascinating but I haven't a clue. Kudos for finding an X!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sharon!
DeleteWhatever caused their extinction, I sure am glad I didn't meet such animals on earth. Tigers, bears and the rest of them are scary enough. Imagine meeting one of those while taking a hike. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThere was a reason for their extinction.
DeleteI'm no scientist but both theories sound plausible. Yet since we'll never know for sure what attributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs, I'd like to think that both were the reasons for their demise. The comet fell and maybe started a chain reaction of natural disasters and making volcanoes erupt. Either way, I'm for one am glad they are extinct because I don't want to end up as no animal's dinner. Which is why I also have a bone to pick with the Jurassic movies. Why would you clone dinosaurs? I understand the plant eating one. But the meat eating ones? And now in the latest installment, Jurassic World, they make their own dinosaur...omg
ReplyDeleteBoth theories together is a theory that can't lose.
DeleteThey were rather stupid to clone dinosaurs, but I love those movies. :)
I'm firmly in the asteroid camp.
ReplyDeleteHello, fellow asteroid camper. ;)
DeleteI'll go with comet.
ReplyDeletePlay off the Page
Another for comet. I think that theory is winning.
DeleteIt's scary whenever scientists comment how close as asteroid comes to Earth every so often. We don't get much of a head's up
ReplyDeleteIt is scary. And it happens a lot, apparently.
DeleteI think the comet.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteI lean toward a cyclic wipeout of this species or that...
ReplyDeleteSmart. Very smart. ;')
DeleteI'm going with asteroid, but holy moly, I hate to think about that. It just reinforces how terribly fragile life is. And makes me nervous to look up. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is scary to think about.
DeleteYou know how "they" say dinosaurs are billions of years old which technically places earth older than that? What if they lived and roamed during the era while Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden? The bible never says how long they lived in that state of innocence before they were expelled.
ReplyDeleteWhen they were expelled, it was at this time the earth was ready to house human beings--the dinosaurs long being extinct.
That doesn't really say how they became extinct... what if Heavenly Father gathered material from other worlds and pieced together ours that already had this monster bones in them?
xD
Elizabeth Mueller
AtoZ 2015
My Little Pony
That's a good point, Elizabeth. I always wondered why the Bible didn't mention dinosaurs.
DeleteAs usual, I would put more trust in science than the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThe extinction of the dinosaurs was good for us. Getting rid of the dinosaurs created possibilities for the mammals (including humans) to evolve.
And the extinction of the dinosaurs is not the only mass extinction in earth history. Another and even bigger mass extinction, killing 95% of all living species) took place at the end of the Permian. There are several hypotheses for the cause of it. Maybe it was Noah's 1st expedition >;)
Cold As Heaven
I'm religious, not as much as other, but I'd have to go with science on the dinosaur extinction theory as well.
DeleteI've always suspected that the butler did it with a giant candlestick = nature with an enormous asteroid aimed at the volcanic trigger. So X marks the spot = the forensic evidence. Of course, X is also for Xipe Totec, an Aztec god connected to death and sacrifice (among other things).
ReplyDeleteThe butler with a candlestick. Ha! Good one. ;)
DeleteI think an asteroid was the culprit. I've heard the theory that every several million years, there's a mass extinction event like that, and that the last one correlates to the race memory of the expulsion from Eden. My anthro professor (whom I later discovered was wrong more than right) claimed we're several millions years overdue for the next mass extinction and catastrophic natural disaster.
ReplyDeleteWell I hope your anthro professor is wrong about that.
DeleteMy money is on the asteroid - there seems to be the most evidence for that, what with the crater and everything :)
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
I think so too.
Delete"The freezing then boiling of the earth"...yup...that's pretty terrifying!
ReplyDeleteKatie @TheCyborgMom
I agree.
Delete