Dinosaur Extinction

Random older topics of discussion

Moderators: MichelleH, Minimalist, JPeters

User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

True! If you wipe out 99% of the Elephants you probably wipe out the Elephant as a species. Wipe out 99% of the House Mouse and there are probably more Mice left than the total world population of Elephants.
But still the absence of fossils bothers me considerably.
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Minimalist
Forum Moderator
Posts: 16013
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:09 pm
Location: Arizona

Post by Minimalist »

I don't think I explained my earlier idea very well.

Let me try it this way. Assuming that the iridium layer was formed by fallout from the blast/impact that would mean that it was initially blasted well up into the atmosphere, much like volcanic ash which can cause spectacular sunsets a year or two afterwards.

Living animals, mainly meaning the ones who were not killed outright by the blast, fire, tidal wave or shock wave would have had to adapt to new conditions. They would also have to keep eating while the iridium layer was slowly forming by settling out of the sky. If that process took more than a couple of weeks many of the survivors would have starved to death but the KT boundary would be forming around them. The 65 mya date is a nice convenient round number but it is, after all, an estimate. If the conditions described in a nuclear winter are accurate it seems reasonable that there would have been no dinosaurs left a mere five years later. How do you represent five years in geologic terms?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

How do you represent five years in geologic terms?
The simple answer of course is that you can't Min. So in fact the two events could be just as easily have been separated by a few thousand years.
Every proposed sequence of events following the impact even I can contest with facts and logic. One cause I saw proposed recently was that the wild fires that some say followed the impact, and others dispute, was a massive rise in the CO2 levels and the Dinos choked to death. Rubbish! Birds are one of the greatest users of O2 and energy and the most sensitive to aerial pollution, hence their use as indicators in mines. They survived!
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Rokcet Scientist

Post by Rokcet Scientist »

Minimalist wrote:
How do you represent five years in geologic terms?
In mere millimeters.
Minimalist
Forum Moderator
Posts: 16013
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:09 pm
Location: Arizona

Post by Minimalist »

Birds are one of the greatest users of O2 and energy and the most sensitive to aerial pollution, hence their use as indicators in mines. They survived!

But were there birds, or just small nimble dinosaurs who evolved into birds?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

I'll check on that Min, but if my memory serves me correctly then yes, and common sense says, (I'll check), that the small nimble Dinos were still around at the same time, deepening the mystery.
Bakker, I think it was, said there was a 50kg cut off, those heavier perished, those lighter survived. Sounds too simplistic to me.
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Rokcet Scientist

Post by Rokcet Scientist »

Digit wrote:I'll check on that Min, but if my memory serves me correctly then yes, and common sense says, (I'll check), that the small nimble Dinos were still around at the same time, deepening the mystery.
Bakker, I think it was, said there was a 50kg cut off, those heavier perished, those lighter survived. Sounds too simplistic to me.
In the absence of any further explanation/reasoning – let alone evidence – that is definitely too simplistic.

Afaik your small, nimble dino's were there at the event, as well as feathered, flying, dino-birds.
As were mammals, reptilians, insects, invertebrates, etc. The big majority perished.
User avatar
fossiltrader
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:24 am

KT event.

Post by fossiltrader »

If memory serves me correctly the 50kg limit was on a mammal extinction event the same that saw the end of the camels in north america i think though could be wrong,
As for the comet strike etc KT event that saw the dinosaurs leave us it was established that in India more than ten thousand years after the event Tricerotops still flourished and are counted as the last of the large dinosaurs to die out.
User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

Thanks FT. Nuff said!
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Rokcet Scientist

Re: KT event.

Post by Rokcet Scientist »

fossiltrader wrote:If memory serves me correctly the 50kg limit was on a mammal extinction event the same that saw the end of the camels in north america i think though could be wrong,
As for the comet strike etc KT event that saw the dinosaurs leave us it was established that in India more than ten thousand years after the event Tricerotops still flourished and are counted as the last of the large dinosaurs to die out.
"It was established"?
By whom? When? Where? How?
Got links to support this posit, FT?

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops Triceratops lived in North America. That's a loooong way from India...!
User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

Wiki has a report on it RS.
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
User avatar
Digit
Posts: 6618
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Location: Wales, UK

Post by Digit »

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/ ... wen1b.html

This confirms all that I had argued and offers some realistic solutions and also explains how some of the weirder ideas came about, interesting.
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Minimalist
Forum Moderator
Posts: 16013
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:09 pm
Location: Arizona

Post by Minimalist »

"Interesting" is a good word for it.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
Locked