Scientists have been wondering for decades which was the massive phenomena that caused the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Was it a massive volcanic eruption or maybe the impact with an asteroid?
Why did the dinosaurs disappear?
According to new geologic evidence, it was none of the above. It is said that both climate and ecological simulations have been responsible for a long an cold winter, whose conditions were so bad that the dinosaurs just became extinct.
How did all the other species survive?
It might sound like a weird plot twist, but a volcanic eruption was so big it reversed the inhabitable climate conditions and animals could live again in a peaceful environment. It happened at the Deccan Traps, located in what is today India, when dinosaur’s habitats were wiped and the rest of the creatures received habitable temperatures.
Another… plot twist?
According to recent studies, it was not the eruption that caused the extinction of both dinosaurs and their habitats, since it is believed that the eruptions occurred either too early to too late. At the end of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 75% of the planet’s living species disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The volcanic eruption was so aggressive that no other global phenomena has affected that much the living species on our planet. The good news is that the temperatures which dropped to -30C soon regained their normal flow, which caused the acceleration of the recovery process in plants and animals.
The Deccan Traps: a creator rather than a destroyer
According to researchers, this phenomenon was, in the end, a massive extinction, which 10 years later resulted in the biggest recovery that the humanity has ever faced. If this event had not occur, the world would probably have been now governed by mammals.
