Published Study Rejects Asteroid Impact Theory

By | May 6th, 2009|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Geo-scientist has Evidence Refuting Asteroid Impact Theory Published in London Based Scientific Journal

The debate surrounding the causes of the Cretaceous mass extinction event goes on. A new study rejects the asteroid impact theory.

The arguments surrounding the causes of the Cretaceous mass extinction event that led to the demise of the marine reptiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and a whole range of other vertebrates (not to mention the invertebrate casualties) continue to rumble on.  No sooner have we written an article on James E. Fassett’s work on the date of the dinosaur die off, another paper on the mass extinction event is published.

Asteroid Impact Theory

Evidence from studies of rock formations in New Mexico and Colorado by U.S. Geologist James Fassett and his team indicate that some types of dinosaur may have survived the Cretaceous mass extinction event and survived for a few hundred thousand years into the Cenozoic era.

To read more about the evidence supporting dinosaurs in the Tertiary: Did Dinosaurs survive into the Palaeogene?

Now the eminent scientist Gerta Keller of Princeton University has had her work published on the causes of the extinction event, in the leading scientific publication ,”The Journal of the Geological Society” in London.

As an eminent geo-scientist, Professor Keller accepts that there is evidence to indicate an extraterrestrial impact event around 66 million years ago, but she believes that the meteorite/asteroid strike did not wipe out the dinosaurs.

The Timing of the Mass Extinction Event

Her team’s research indicates that a mass extinction event may not have occurred immediately after the impact but the extinctions happened much later. Studies of the fossil bearing rocks on the K-T boundary in areas such as Mexico, the United States and India, the international team of scientists, which included members of universities in Spain, Mexico and Switzerland concluded that mass extinctions could not be directly related to the impact of an asteroid or meteorite.

Massive volcanic activity such as that in the area of the Deccan Traps are claimed to have had the greatest effect on the fauna and flora of our planet.

For models and replicas of Late Cretaceous prehistoric animals: Papo Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Figures.

Commenting on the research, Professor Keller noted:

“Careful documentation of results that are reproducible and verifiable will uncover what really happened, this study takes an important step in that direction”.

The reasons for the mass extinction event that happened approximately 65 million years ago continue to be hotly debated, a number of articles relating to Professor Keller’s work have been published on this blog site already, for further information regarding the Cretaceous mass extinction:

Article on Keller’s Theory: Volcanoes linked to Dinosaur Extinction.

Further information on Keller’s Theory Mass Extinction may not be linked to Asteroid Strike.

To read more about the Deccan Traps: Blame the Deccan Traps.