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The Mass Extinction Controversy |
| Section: NATURAL SCIENCE / AT THE EDGE |
| Author: Marc J. Defant |
| Publication: The world & I online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/1988 |
| Size: 3,526 Words, 21,689 Characters |
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Imagine an explosion that would equal the simultaneous detonation of 100 million one-megaton nuclear warheads--10,000 times the existing worldwide nuclear arsenal. The energy released from such an incredible explosion would be equivalent to that released from a massive meteorite, called a bolide, that may have struck the earth some 65 million years ago. The diameter of the bolide was probably greater than the height of the highest mountain on earth. The material blown into the atmosphere from the collision, in the form of a dust cloud, would have quickly encircled the globe and taken months to settle. During that period of settling, the sunlight would have been drastically reduced and the photosynthetic processes in plant life would have been arrested, resulting in a tremendous number of e...
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...he result of a catastrophic event such as a bolide impact, then this must have been an important factor in the evolution of man. If this relatively rare catastrophic event had not occurred and killed the dinosaurs, then our world today might still be ruled by those giant creatures of long ago, and mammals would probably still be small creatures scurrying around trying to avoid being stepped on.
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