. | . |
Another dinosaur extinction theory offered
Princeton, N.J. (UPI) Dec 15, 2008 A U.S. geosciences professor says dinosaurs died gradually from climate change caused by volcanic eruptions in India and not because of a meteor strike. Gerta Keller of Princeton University admits her theory contradicts the long-held hypothesis that dinosaurs died due to climate change after a giant meteor hit the Yucatan region of Mexico. Keller bases her theory on her National Science Foundation-funded field work in India and Mexico that uncovered geologic evidence that the mass extinction and the meteor impact occurred at different times. "The Chicxulub impact hit the Yucatan about 300,000 years before the mass extinction that included the dinosaurs and, therefore, could not have caused it," Keller said. Keller and her team instead found the mass extinction coincided with the end of the main phase of India's Deccan eruptions, suggesting volcanism killed the dinosaurs. Keller and her colleagues will present their findings during the December 2009 American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. The work will also be included in an upcoming History Channel feature "What Really Killed the Dinosaurs." Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Explore The Early Earth at TerraDaily.com
The Oldest Rocks On Earth Montreal, Canada (SPX) Sep 29, 2008 Canadian bedrock more than 4 billion years old may be the oldest known section of the Earth's early crust. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and McGill University in Montreal used geochemical methods to obtain an age of 4.28 billion years for samples of the rock, making it 250 million years more ancient than any previously discovered rocks. |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |