Re: KT Boundary Inquiry


"George" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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<uraniumcommittee@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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George wrote:
<uraniumcommittee@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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George wrote:
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Alan Kellogg wrote:
Where can I find up-to-date information on the period of time
leading
up
to the KT Extinction Event?

Walter Alvarez's book "T. Rex and the Crater of Doom"

I believe the question was about "up-to-date information". Isn't
that
book
nearly ten years old?

So?

So, it is not up-to-date information. It is also not an unbiased view
of
the current thinking.

Seems pretty thorough to me. Can you point out significant weak points
in his book?

The weakest link in the book is that it is ten years old. As such, there
has since been tons of data collected and interpreted, a lot of which
questions whether an impact actually caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.
The date of the Yucatan impacter has been brought into question - it may
be older than the K-T boundary event. That and the fact that the famous
irridium layer has been found right smack in the middle of the Deccan
traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but indicates that the
volcanism associated with them was ongoing before during and after the K-T
boundary event. In other words, a lot of data has been collected that
dispute the impact theory of the demise of the dinosaurs, and that
supports the volcanism associated with the Deccan traps and the resulting
climate change as a possible major cause. These are my major beefs with
the book. I'm sure there are others I've overlooked.

The fact that the largest extinction level event in geologic history, that
of the P-T event, is not associated with an impact, but is associated with
the Siberian traps weakens the impact theory for the K-T event, and
strengthens the theory for the Deccan traps being the most likely cause of
the changes which resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs and many other
lifeforms. Stay tuned.

George


I find it interesting that you don't think the two together could have
vastly increased the number of extinctions. Its kind of like finding a body
that has been run over by a car after being shot and trying to say that only
one of the events contributed to the persons demise. This is only true if he
was stone dead before being run over.

By the way the event in Sibera was vastly larger.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: KT Boundary Inquiry
    ... George wrote: ... to the KT Extinction Event? ... traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but indicates that the ... dispute the impact theory of the demise of the dinosaurs, ...
    (sci.bio.paleontology)
  • Re: KT Boundary Inquiry
    ... George wrote: ... traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but ... The fact that the largest extinction level event in geologic ... the Siberian Traps occured during major climatological ...
    (sci.bio.paleontology)
  • Re: KT Boundary Inquiry
    ... George wrote: ... traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but indicates ... The fact that the largest extinction level event in geologic ... the Siberian Traps occured during major climatological ...
    (sci.bio.paleontology)
  • Re: KT Boundary Inquiry
    ... George wrote: ... traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but indicates ... The fact that the largest extinction level event in geologic ... the Siberian Traps occured during major climatological ...
    (sci.bio.paleontology)
  • Re: KT Boundary Inquiry
    ... traps, a fact which not only helps date the traps, but indicates that ... The fact that the largest extinction level event in geologic history, ... the Siberian Traps occured during major climatological changes ... I've not seen an papers that describe climate changes resulting from the ...
    (sci.bio.paleontology)