Dinosaur Extinction Occurs in Spring, Study Explains All

KOMPAS.com – About 66 million years ago, asteroid hit the Earth. This event is also a sign for extinction dinosaur at the end of the Cretaceous period.

However, there are still unanswered questions from mass extinction that, namely when exactly the event asteroid collisions it happened.

An international team of scientists conducted a series of studies to determine when the asteroid fell to Earth and caused dinosaur extinction.

They found the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth during the spring.

quote PhysThursday (24/2/2022) researchers conducted the study by analyzing the remains of fish that died shortly after the asteroid impact.

When an asteroid hits Earth, the collision shakes the continental plate and causes large waves in bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes.

The waves then moved large amounts of sediment which swallowed the fish and buried them alive.

Also read: Dinosaur Extinction Triggered by Asteroids With the Power of 10 Billion Atomic Bombs

In the event of a mass extinction that destroyed dinosaurs, the fish were then preserved in a sediment called the Tanis sediment that was in North Dakota. Some fossil Preserved fish include paddlefish and sturgeon.

“The fish are well preserved, their bones show almost no signs of geochemical changes,” said Melanie During, lead author of the study and a researcher from Uppsala University.

Researchers then used ESRF, a particle accelerator that produces the world’s brightest X-rays, to examine samples of fish fossils.

“Thanks to the ESRF data we found that bones record seasonal growth similar to trees. Fish also grow a new layer every year on the outside of the bones,” explains Sophie Sanchez, a researcher from Uppsala University.

But the growth rings apparently not only capture the life history of the fish but also record the last season in the Cretaceous period. In this study, events dinosaur extinction in spring.

Also read: Dinosaur Extinction, A Way to Understand the Impact of Global Warming

X-ray scans also show the distribution, shape and size of bone cells, which are known to fluctuate with the seasons.

So that means, the fish also recorded the season in which the extinction of the dinosaurs occurred.

“In all the fish studied, bone cell density and volume can be tracked over several years and it shows whether it is spring, summer, autumn, or winter,” said Dennis Voeten, a researcher from Uppsala University.

The analysis also showed that the growth of the fish suddenly stopped in the spring.

Also read: Big Animal Extinction Causes Many Grassland Fires Around the World

This is also confirmed by carbon isotope analysis to reveal the fish’s annual diet. Researchers found that the fish growth record has not yet reached a climax.

Meanwhile, according to researchers, the availability of new food will reach its peak in the summer. So you could say that their death came in the spring.

Finding the dinosaurs’ extinction this spring will also help future researchers understand the mass extinction.

“Our results will help reveal why most mammals died out while early birds and mammals managed to avoid extinction,” concluded During.

The results of a study on the extinction of the dinosaurs in the spring have been published in the journal Nature.

Also read: Unique, This Dinosaur Is Able To Continue To Grow Lost Teeth

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