The mystery of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. This is something we’ve all wondered about since grade school, and it’s something the scientists have been hotly debating for decades. Could it be that a recent discovery has settled the mystery once and for all?…

 

 

 

 

Case Closed for Dino Killer?

by Michael Balter

 

What happened to the dinosaurs? For more than 100 million years, they ruled the world. Then, suddenly—poof—about 65 million years ago, they were gone. At least that’s the way it looks to most scientists, who blame an asteroid hitting Earth for the ancient beasts’ dramatic demise. Some researchers are still skeptical about the asteroid hypothesis, but a new fossil discovery in Montana may lend it new impact.

 

Back in 1980, when the late Nobel laureate physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, geologist Walter Alvarez, first tried to pin dinosaur extinction on an errant asteroid, they faced a major credibility gap. At the time, there was little firm evidence for such a catastrophic event. But then they and other researchers found an overabundance of iridium in geological formations at the 65-million-year transition line between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, known as the K-T boundary. Iridium is common in asteroids but rare in Earth’s crust…

 

For the complete article click here to go to Science.

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