Scientists from the University of Oslo (Norway) have discovered that dinosaurs survived several volcanic winters even before the meteorite hit. The results of the scientists’ work were published in the journal Science Developments.
About 66 million years ago, a catastrophe occurred on Earth, as a result of which 75% of the animal species on the planet died out. This was caused by several events: the first was the fall of an asteroid, and the second was multiple volcanic eruptions. Therefore, tons of volcanic gases entered the atmosphere and changed the climate.
Many researchers suggest that dinosaurs died out not because of a meteorite, but precisely because of volcanoes. However, there is also the opposite point of view. To clarify the role of volcanoes, the authors examined lava samples from the Deccan Formations dating to both the lower Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (i.e., before the asteroid impact) and the upper boundary (after the impact).
The authors of the study concluded that repeated and strong sulfur emissions could have caused a series of short-term volcanic winters across the planet 300-400 thousand years before the asteroid hit (the intensity of the cooling varied in different regions). These winters had a negative impact on Earth’s ecosystem but did not cause a mass extinction.
Previous scientists discovered A dinosaur whose long nose made it difficult to look forward.