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Life and Death in the Mesozoic |
| Section: NATURAL SCIENCE / AT THE EDGE |
| Author: Peter Douglas Ward |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 6/1/1991 |
| Size: 2,480 Words, 15,637 Characters |
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There is no doubt that a mass extinction of almost unprecedented magnitude took place some 65 million years ago, at the end of a period known as the Mesozoic era. The flora and fauna were very different from those of the present day: The land was covered with ancient plants, such as ginkgos, redwoods, and giant tree ferns, while immense herbs of dinosaurs roamed the plains. Archaic species of fish and shellfish flourished in the oceans, both in the depths and in the shallow seas that covered many of the continents. This assemblage of animals and plants, which had existed for many tens of millions of years, underwent an extinction so massive that it divides the last 200 million years of earth history into two parts.
Exactly what caused this extinction, and how long a period was requir...
. . .
...vels, shocked quartz, and spherules in boundary clay layers. Assessing the paleontological evidence has taken longer because of the necessity of gathering large numbers of fossils. Within the last two years many such studies have been published. They suggest that the extinctions marking the end of the Mesozoic era were short and catastrophic, thus seemingly supporting the impact hypothesis. vbcrlf
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