Sixty - six million years ago , 75 percent of all life on Earth , including most dinosaurs , went extinct . The causa is believe to be a large asteroid that slammed into a realm off the seacoast of modern - day Mexico .
However , there has been much public debate about how much of an effect intense volcanism had on living on Earth at the metre . Now raw research suggests the asteroid did n’t need any help from volcanism in make the satellite inhospitable for dinosaur and many others .
The work , published in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , looked at the effects of the Chicxulub asteroid shock in the Yucatán Peninsula and the eruption of the Deccan Traps in present - day India . Both phenomenon released gas and material into the atmosphere – one in a flash and the other over the course of study of many X of millennium . These spillage affected the climate but scientists were unsure of their relative contribution .
To investigate deeper , the squad used both mathematical models and geologic marker of climate and combined them with environmental factor such as haste and temperature . The study suggests that the asteroid alone was creditworthy for give up particles that blocked the Sun , plunge the planet into a winter that last for decade .
“ We show that the asteroid have an shock winter for decades , and that these environmental effects decimated suited environment for dinosaurs . In contrast , the effects of the intense volcanic extravasation were not hard enough to substantially interrupt global ecosystems , ” lead author Dr Alessandro Chiarenza , who conduct this employment whilst learn for his PhD in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial , said in astatement .
“ Our cogitation confirms , for the first clock time quantitatively , that the only plausible account for the defunctness is the impact winter that eradicate dinosaur habitat worldwide . ”
The enquiry flips the playscript on the Deccan Traps completely . The work instead suggests the intense volcanism helped some species to overcome the devastation of the wallop winter .
“ We provide new evidence to suggest that the volcanic eruptions happening around the same time might have reduce the effects on the surround due to the wallop , particularly in quickening the rise of temperatures after the impact wintertime , ” Dr Chiarenza add . “ This volcanic - bring on thaw helped boost the survival and recovery of the animals and plants that made through the extinction , with many groups expanding in its prompt wake , admit birds and mammal . ”
