Jakarta –
The cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs still raises speculation among scientists. The massive dust from the asteroid impact, which was previously neglected on the research table, has brought new enlightenment.
Most of us know that the asteroid that hit Earth was the main cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. But doesn’t this phenomenon raise questions about what happens afterwards? The reason is, the Chicxulub asteroid was not the only cause of the ‘doomsday’ on Earth at that time.
Dinosaurs were not immediately killed by an asteroid collision, although the impact of this celestial body played a big role. There are many factors that cause this, such as fires and prolonged winter.
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Quoted detikNET from The New York Times, Tuesday (31/10/2023), 66 million years ago, an asteroid hit the ocean off the coast of Mexico. Deadly and massive natural disasters also occurred simultaneously, from earthquakes to tsunamis. The climate becomes chaotic and plants that are part of the food chain are also wiped out.
Deadly Winter
Fires did occur everywhere and destroyed most of life, but the winter that hit had quite a big impact.
There are three substances that are thought to be able to cool the Earth as a result of the collision, namely sulfur, soot and dust. After being ignored by scientists for a long time, research from Nature Geoscience revealed that dust was the cause of the cold attack.
To be clear, this silicate dust is fine and micrometer in size. At that time, it remained in the atmosphere for 15 years and could prevent heat and sunlight from entering Earth. Because of this, photosynthesis of plants that require sunlight finally stopped for two full weeks. This can certainly damage the food chain and can kill the remaining animals.
Referring to computer simulations from Cem Berk Senel, paleoclimatology modeling researcher at the Royal Belgian Observatory and author of the research, this fine dust is part of the adverse climate impacts.
Sulfur and soot may be better at absorbing and blocking sunlight, but dust lasts longer in the atmosphere, for at least 15 years. As a result, the temperature on Earth dropped to 15 degrees Celsius. It took four years for the atmosphere to recover from fine dust and restore plant life to Earth. According to new research, this event was the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs, not just an asteroid impact.
The Cons Of A Paleontologist
Jan Smit, a paleontologist at Amsterdam’s Vrije University who was not part of the research team, said the discovery of the Earth cooling after the asteroid event was not comprehensive. Senel and his colleague Pim Kaskes, a geologist at the University of Brussels in Belgium, also admit this.
“That’s something we want to find out, to see if there are differences across the world, perhaps some regions that were less affected by the meteorite impact and why some groups survived and others didn’t. I think this is just a starting point for some research cool and to find fossil evidence of this global response,” said Kaskes.
*This article was written by Khalisha Fitri, a participant in the Merdeka Campus Certified Internship Program at detikcom
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2023-10-31 11:00:40
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