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Volcanoes May Have Caused Mass Extinctions?

Posted by Zonk on from the can't-breath-must-snack-on-mammals dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "According to recent research, huge amounts of sulphur dioxide released by volcanic eruptions may have had more to do with wiping out dinosaurs than the meteorite strike at Chicxulub on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Marine sediments drilled from the Chicxulub crater have revealed that that the mass extinctions occurred 300,000 years after Chicxulub hit Earth. The Deccan volcanism was a long cumulative process that released vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. '"On land it must have been 7-8 degrees warmer," says Princeton University paleontologist Gerta Keller. "The Chicxulub impact alone could not have caused the mass extinction, because this impact predates the mass extinction."' Keller also postulates a second larger and still unidentified meteor strike after Chicxulub, that left the famous extraterrestrial layer of iridium found in rocks worldwide and pushed earth's ecosystem over the brink. But where's the crater? "I wish I knew," says Keller."

13 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. where's the crater? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    But where's the crater? "I wish I knew

    Its gotta be in Oklahoma. Trust me, that place is a **** hole!

  2. Xenu by jas_public · · Score: 3, Funny

    This sounds like an L. Ron Hubbard story.

    1. Re:Xenu by FusionDragon2099 · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, but Tyrannosaurs fly F-14s.

  3. is it warm in here? by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Deccan volcanism was a long cumulative process that released vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

    Yeah, but with our advanced technology, we can cut that time in half.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  4. Easy by rucs_hack · · Score: 2, Funny

    It shouldn't be that hard to work it out, after all, wasn't it only about ten thousand years ago it happened? /ducks :)

  5. Ridiculous... by gentlemen_loser · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone knows that the earth is only 6000 years old, as evidenced here They even have models of Eve with vegetarian Raptors. See. I do not understand why anyone pays any attention to these activist scientists. Duh...

    1. Re:Ridiculous... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      well, to tell the true they got all my attention when they said Chicx u lub...

    2. Re:Ridiculous... by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 1, Funny

      Ha ha ha! Oh gosh that's funny! That's really funny! Do you write your own material? Do you? Because that is so fresh. "Everyone knows that the earth is only 6000 years old". You know, I've never heard anyone make that joke before. Hmm. You're the first. I've never heard anyone reference that on Slashdot before. Because that's what the religious people say in church right? Isn't it? "The earth is only 6000 years old". And, and yet you've taken that and used it out of context to insult people who are different than you in this everyday situation. God what a clever, smart person you must be, to come up with a joke like that all by yourself. That's so fresh too. Any Titanic jokes you want to throw out there as long as we're hitting these phenomena at the height of their popularity?

      God you're so funny!

      (Apologies to Seth MacFarlane)

      --
      Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
    3. Re:Ridiculous... by lgw · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wait, wait, let me get this right. The "6000 years" thing is so obviously stupid that no one should accuse Christians of believing it, but the part where Christians believe that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in all humans because a woman made from a rib was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree and thereby pissing off an invisible wizard who lives in the sky -- that part -- is not obviously stupid at all, but obviously true?

      For simplicty, please list which fairy tales you do and don't believe in, so we can insult your *actual* beliefs?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  6. Oblig futurama by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fry: What killed off the dinosaurs?

    Giant Super Brain: Me!

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  7. Re:Cause by rucs_hack · · Score: 2, Funny

    There is a theory that this is what happened. The Siberian Traps were already going, they were a long term thing, but they had an upsurge of activity that was seriously bad for the environment at around the time the Asteroid hit, or so I recall, it was a while ago I learned this. Wait a bit and I'm sure a slashdotr technorati will provide the ref :)

  8. DO NOT ask that question on slashdot by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think we've all seen the crater by this point.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  9. Volcanoes May Have Caused Mass Extinctions? by Fx.Dr · · Score: 3, Funny

    DUH! The Church of Scientology has been saying this for years now, people! Get with the times!