Volcanoes May Have Caused Mass Extinctions? 210
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."
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:1, Informative)
Doh... (Score:3, Informative)
If you had ate least read the summary, you would have realized that this "predate" here means 300000 years...
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:5, Informative)
Some quick (20 second) searching found some things you might like to enlighten yourself with.
Radometric dating, methods other than just carbon [wikipedia.org]
They probably used thermoluminescence dating. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:4, Informative)
If volcanoes, globally, are belching out a massive amount of gas, it will eventually lead to a dramatic change in atmospheric conditions. The altered atmospheric conditions will then have the domino effect on global climate. Any dramatic fluctuation in climate obviously didn't occur over a short period of time, but would have affected the dinosaurs in the long run(droughts, famine or temperatures they were not able to adapt to) and, in short, lead to the Darwinian 'survival of the fittest'. The mammals were the ones that were able to adapt, so they 'took over'.
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:4, Informative)
Absolute Dating Absurdity (Score:2, Informative)
http://http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023103947.htm [http]
What is the cause of the extraneous decay?
One Russian researcher has performed a simple experiment that demonstrates a statistical enigma within decay rates that mysteriously correlates with movements of the stars, the Sun and the Moon
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/time.html [21stcentur...cetech.com]
Charles Ginenthal has written a scathing 17-page paper on the problems associated with absolute dating titled "Scientific Dating Methods In Ruins". Of relevance
Another interesting part ...
Not everybody agrees that there is validity to these dates ...
I caused the mass extinction (Score:5, Informative)
So I hopped into my time machine, gathered up some of the world's famous hunters, went back in time and killed the dinosaurs. Me and Buffalo Bill must have slaughtered 1,200 T-Rex's in what is now Montana, just in one night of drinking and hooting and hollering and a-shooting.
Those of you wonder what really happened to Jesse James, though, should know that he really did die 65 million years ago. We were playing cards one night after a big hunt and I drew a royal flush to his full house. Jesse probably wouldn't blown my head off in anger, but Buffalo Bill was quicker on the draw and he said, "Don't even do it Jesse." Jesse stuffed his revolver back into his holster, grabbed the bottle and went off in a huff. But as he was a stompin' away, he was set on by a pack of raptors and chewed up. It was a sad thing, but T.R. was able to go shoot two down with that pistol of his, and, thus, while we couldn't save Jesse, we at least saved the bottle of whiskey.
I reckon it took us a few months to kill all them dinosaurs. Since they all ate the biggest dinosaurs, we just took out all the brontos and crushed their eggs, and the rest all starved. We shot a bunch too. And then I dropped everyone back into their own times, and came back to this one, and there was not a dinosaur to be found.
Thank god!
So I called upon Mr. Gore to see if he remembered how much he liked dinosaurs in this adjusted timeline, and he said that he thought dinosaurs were ok in their own time, and said that, if we didn't do something about global warming, dinosaurs might come back.
So now, I gotta back in time and gather up the boys and go visit henry ford.
Ah, the work that we do!
Re:Cause (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Absolute Dating Absurdity (Score:4, Informative)
For starters, the 21st Century Science and Technology [wikipedia.org] is NOT a reputable, peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is a group of quacks. Literally, the magazine (which is not even printed anymore, copies are available now as pdf only) is a thinktank of scientists who challenge "the assumptions of modern scientific dogma, including quantum mechanics, relativity theory, biological reductionism, and the formalization and separation of mathematics from physics." (from their statement of purpose).
Furthermore, the "21st century" publication follows the line of groupthink known as the LaRouche Movement [wikipedia.org], a wacky pseudo-political group of conspiracy theorists and nutcases. Their group spews fascist, anti-semetic ideology like it's going out of style.
That alone makes your bullshit transparent, but you state that you want something other than attacks on credentials (I happen to believe that scientists stand or fall on their credentials, including past bodies of work, but whatever). So, in a nutshell, Radiometric Dating [wikipedia.org], including Carbon-14 dating and other methods such as Rubidium-strontium dating and Uranium-lead dating, is EXTREMELY accurate and accepted by all reputable scientists and peer-reviewed scientific journals.
So, if your russian scientist is the only one shouting that it's inaccurate, we must be left asking "Why does every other scientist accept it, and what is his axe to grind?".
~Wx
Re:Pre hoc ergo propter hoc? (Score:3, Informative)
Esp. in this area since the two parties are so at the throat of each other that it is difficult to take anything they say for good fish. Gerta Keller is quite hateful and very angry because her funding was taken away after some umm unconventional outbursts from her side.
Keller's far-out (Score:3, Informative)
"Many scientists reject Keller's analysis, some arguing that the 10 meter (32.8 ft) layer on top of the impact spherules should be attributed to tsunami activity resulting from impact. Few researchers support Keller's dating of the impact crater." -- Wikipedia