Meteor Extinction Theory a Complete Fantasy
Strangely, there is a small number of Evolutionists who have not accepted the dinosaur meteor extinction theory and one has even called the related scenarios a fantasy. Why?
What do we do with these impact scenarios? Naturally, we compare them with the evidence from the geological record. Birds, tortoises, and mammals live on
land and breathe air: the evidence from the K-T boundary shows that they survived the K-T boundary event. Therefore they and the air they breathed
weren't set on broil for several hours. To put it simply, these scenarios did not happen.
History of Life, Richard Cowen, 2000, p.290.
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/events/cowen2b.html
The survival of birds is the strangest of all the K-T boundary events, if we are to accept the catastrophic scenarios. Smaller dinosaurs overlapped with
larger birds in size and in ecological roles as terrestrial bipeds. How did birds survive while dinosaurs did not? Birds seek food in the open, by sight;
they are small and warm-blooded, with high metabolic rates and small energy stores. Even a sudden storm or a slightly severe winter can cause high
mortality among bird populations. Yet an impact scenario, according to its enthusiasts, includes "a nightmare of environmental disasters, including
storms, tsunamis, cold and darkness, greenhouse warming, acid rains and global fires." There must be some explanation for the survival of birds, turtles,
and crocodiles through any catastrophe of this scale, or else the catastrophe models are wrong.
History of Life, Richard Cowen, 2000, p.295.
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/events/cowen3b.html
Some critics, including paleontologist Robert Bakker, argue that such an impact would have killed frogs as well as dinosaurs, yet the frogs survived the extinction event.
http://web.archive.org/web/20211228051109/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
there was no extinction in the insects, a group that should have been the most sensitive to a global catastrophe predicted by the impact advocates. ...
Nor do the birds show much extinction, even though they too should have been vulnerable (Chiappe 1995). ...
some extreme impact scenarios postulate extensive acid rain bathing the earth for a long time after the impact. However, the survival of amphibians shows
that this is simply a fantasy (Weil 1984). Amphibians breathe through their porous skins and are sensitive to slight changes in the acidity of their
watery habitat. Even now, the slightly more acidic conditions of lakes and ponds due to human-induced acid rain are causing frogs and salamanders to die
out rapidly. If the entire earth had been subjected to a huge acid bath, there simply would not be a frog or salamander alive on the earth today. p.38.
After the Dinosaurs, Donald R. Prothero, 2006.
The current belief on the demise of the dinosaurs is that a large meteor impacted the Earth at about 100,000 km/h 66 million years ago, unleashing a destructive force the equivalent of up to 921 billion Hiroshima A-Bombs!
In 1980, a team of researchers led by Nobel prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez, his son, geologist Walter Alvarez, and chemists Frank Asaro and Helen Vaughn Michel discovered that sedimentary layers found all over the world at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary, formerly called Cretaceous–Tertiary or K–T boundary) contain a concentration of iridium hundreds of times greater than normal. Iridium is extremely rare in the Earth's crust because it is very dense and has the affinity for iron that characterizes the siderophile elements (see Goldschmidt classification), and therefore most of it sank into the Earth's core while the earth was still molten. The Alvarez team suggested that an asteroid struck the earth at the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.
http://web.archive.org/web/20201108005220/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarez_hypothesis
A comet or an asteroid—we aren't sure which—collided with the Earth, hitting what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It was about six miles (ten
kilometers) wide, or about the size of Mount Everest. It was probably moving at a speed of around 67,000 miles per hour (108,000 kilometers per hour),
more than a hundred times faster than a jet airliner. When it slammed into our planet, it hit with the force of over 100 trillion tons of TNT, somewhere
in the vicinity of a billion nuclear bombs' worth of energy. It plowed some twenty-five miles (forty kilometers) through the crust and into the mantle,
leaving a crater that was over 100 miles (160 kilometers) wide. p.315.
The RISE and FALL of the DINOSAURS
A New History of Their Lost World, STEVE BRUSATTE. 2018.
Approximate location of the Chicxulub impact crater, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.
Approximate location of the Chicxulub impact crater, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.
Approximate location of the Chicxulub impact crater, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.
The Chicxulub impactor had an estimated diameter of 11-81 kilometers (6.8-50.3 mi), and delivered an estimated energy of 21-921 billion Hiroshima A-bombs
(between 1.3x1024 and 5.8x1025 joules, or 1.3-58 yottajoules).
http://web.archive.org/web/20211228051109/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
Note: See Ref 1.
Earth itself became toxic. When the asteroid struck, it vaporized layers of limestone, releasing into the atmosphere a trillion tons of carbon dioxide,
ten billion tons of methane, and a billion tons of carbon monoxide; all three are powerful greenhouse gases. The impact also vaporized anhydrite rock,
which blasted ten trillion tons of sulfur compounds aloft. The sulfur combined with water to form sulfuric acid, which then fell as an acid rain that
may have been potent enough to strip the leaves from any surviving plants and to leach the nutrients from the soil.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died
Then acid rain, formed from the nitrous oxide and sulfates clogging the atmosphere, began to hammer down on the surface, killing plants and animals and
even dissolving rocks. This rain would have been as corrosive as battery acid and its most devastating effect would have been to destroy the shells of
small marine organisms. p.165.
Flying Dinosaurs: How fearsome reptiles became birds, John Pickrell, 2014.
A new study led by Yale University confirms a long-held theory about the last great mass extinction event in history and how it affected Earth’s oceans.
The researchers say it is the first direct evidence that the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago coincided with a sharp drop in the pH levels of the oceans — which indicates a rise in ocean acidity.
“The ocean acidification we observe could easily have been the trigger for mass extinction in the marine realm,” said senior author Pincelli Hull, assistant professor of geology and geophysics at Yale.
https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/21/mystery-solved-ocean-acidity-last-mass-extinction
Note: See Ref 2.
A study of boron isotopes in the tests of foraminifera that lived deep in the oceans and near their surface just after the K-Pg boundary event has revealed that ocean water suddenly became more acidic (Henehan, M.J. and 13 others 2019. Rapid ocean acidification and protracted Earth system recovery followed the end-Cretaceous Chicxulub impact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Online; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1905989116).
https://earthlogs.org/2019/10/25/what-followed-the-k-pg-extinction-event/
The effects of the sulphuric acid on the climate was so severe that the computer simulations found it would have taken at least 30 years for the global
climate to recover.
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/dinosaurs-extinction-simulation
And just what were the dissenting evolutionists complaining about?
Birds, tortoises, and mammals live on land and breathe air: ... Therefore they and the air they breathed weren't set on broil for several hours. To put it
simply, these scenarios did not happen.
History of Life, Richard Cowen, 2000, p.290.
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/events/cowen2b.html
Birds, Tortoises, Mammals: example 2 extant monotremes.
Birds, Tortoises, Mammals: example 2 extant monotremes.
Birds, Tortoises, Mammals: example 2 extant monotremes.
Even a sudden storm or a slightly severe winter can cause high
mortality among bird populations. Yet an impact scenario, according to its enthusiasts, includes "a nightmare of environmental disasters, including
storms, tsunamis, cold and darkness, greenhouse warming, acid rains and global fires." There must be some explanation for the survival of birds, turtles,
and crocodiles through any catastrophe of this scale, or else the catastrophe models are wrong.
History of Life, Richard Cowen, 2000, p.295.
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/events/cowen3b.html
Birds, Turtles, Crocodiles.
Birds, Turtles, Crocodiles.
Birds, Turtles, Crocodiles.
Some critics, including paleontologist Robert Bakker, argue that such an impact would have killed frogs as well as dinosaurs, yet the frogs survived the extinction event.
http://web.archive.org/web/20211228051109/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
Frogs
Frogs
Frogs
some extreme impact scenarios postulate extensive acid rain bathing the earth for a long time after the impact. However, the survival of amphibians shows
that this is simply a fantasy (Weil 1984). ... If the entire earth had been subjected to a huge acid bath, there simply would not be a frog or salamander
alive on the earth today. p.38.
After the Dinosaurs, Donald R. Prothero, 2006.
Frogs, Salamanders
Frogs, Salamanders
Frogs, Salamanders
In short, if the meteor theory is correct, then we should have no birds, frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, and mammals!
There would have also been other susceptible animals back then with the dinosaurs. We could probably add to the list snakes, and sharks. And maybe even
insects as these were also mentioned by the evolutionists!
Simply a Fantasy
And just what does all of this mean?
Because we do currently have birds, frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, and mammals [and probably quite a few other
species that should not have survived], the meteor extinction theory is a complete fantasy.
Interestingly one of the evolutionists speaking out against the meteor theory even alluded to this:
"this is simply a fantasy"!!
And if the meteor extinction theory is a fantasy, then so is all of the evidence supporting it!
Unfortunately that includes fossils, rock layers, and even the smoking gun itself, the whole 170 km wide*, 20 km deep Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan
peninsula of Mexico!!
* See Ref 3.
The rock layers should no longer be considered to give a reliable record of the past history of this planet.
Similarly the fossil record should no longer be considered to give a reliable record of past life on this planet. Unfortunately that
includes the non-avian dinosaurs. All of them.
The whole 170 km wide*, 20 km deep Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico should no longer be considered to give a reliable record of an impact
that supposedly occurred 66 million years ago!
* See Ref 3.
Because we do currently have birds, frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, and mammals [and probably quite a few other species that should not have survived], the meteor extinction theory is a complete fantasy!
Some species that should be extinct!
Some species that should be extinct!
Some species that should be extinct!
And what final conclusions can we make about all of this?
No meteor impacted this planet 66 million years ago causing some supposed extinction of the dinosaurs.
A complete load of junk
In fact if the fossils are not a reliable record of past life then the non-avian dinosaur fossils are in question. All of them! From this we can conclude that the non-avian dinosaurs never existed as living breathing creatures and that none of them ever lived or walked on this planet at any time in the past.
It would appear that when this planet came into existence all of this stuff was fabricated along with it.
But who or what would build into this planet something like many thousands of feet of rock layers containing a complete load of junk?
As a Christian I have absolutely no problem with that question. None whatsoever.
But I think the evolutionists are in a real lot of trouble.
Postscript
The Evolutionists are now running in backpedalling mode, trying to dig themselves out of a hole larger than the one the meteor supposedly made 66 million years ago. They may be writing that the effect of the impact was not as bad as originally thought and that as a result the frogs and salamanders and other susceptible species survived.
I give an answer to this on my Backpedalling Evolutionists page.
And they are definitely writing a lot of possible ways the birds may have survived but when you look closely at the suggestions, it's a bit of a stretch.
I also have some curious pages dedicated to how the birds may have survived.
REFERENCES
Because the interval of time that separates us from the formation of Chicxulub is so large, the evidence that could help to reconstruct impactor features
are few. The most obvious is the diameter of the crater, which is between 180 and 200 km (Schulte et al., 2010). With these extreme values and equations
(2.1.2), (2.2.2), (2.3.2), (2.4.10) we can estimate the energy of the impactor.
Mystery solved: ocean acidity in the last mass extinction
Because the interval of time that separates us from the formation of Chicxulub is so large, the evidence that could help to reconstruct impactor features
are few. The most obvious is the diameter of the crater, which is between 180 and 200 km (Schulte et al., 2010). With these extreme values and equations
(2.1.2), (2.2.2), (2.3.2), (2.4.10) we can estimate the energy of the impactor.
Mystery solved: ocean acidity in the last mass extinction
Ma - million years ago.
Ba - billion years ago.
K-T, K-Pg boundary, extinction event
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction) was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters
of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event
Chicxulub
pronounced [and my choice of a few]:
"Chik-shoo-loob"
Experts Reaffirm Asteroid Impact Caused Mass Extinction
MARCH 4, 2010
Some scientists have suggested that the Chicxulub (“chik-shoo-loob”) impact in Mexico ...
https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2010/03/experts-reaffirm-asteroid-impact-caused-mass-extinction/
Meteor Crater Location in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.
"North America laea location map"
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_America_laea_location_map.svg
Attribution: Uwe Dedering
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Chicxulub impact site
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicxulub_impact_-_artist_impression.jpg
This painting by Donald E. Davis depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast
Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction
of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The impact spewed hundreds of billions of tons of sulfur into the atmosphere, producing a worldwide
blackout and freezing temperatures which persisted for at least a decade. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up
to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds.
Author: Donald E. Davis
Public Domain
1. The two guys from Mexico:
We considered the density of the projectile as 1650 kg m-3 for comets (Greenberg, 1998), 3400 kg m-3 for stony asteroids (Wilkison and Robinson, 2000), and 8000 kg m-3 for iron asteroids (Hills and Goda, 1993). ... Steel (1998) obtained an estimation of the range of velocities for bodies that cross Earth's orbit. For asteroids the interval is between 12.6 km s-1 and 40.7 km s-1. This result is based on measurements of the velocities of the asteroids that cross Earth's orbit.
The range for comets is between 16 km s-1 and 73 km s-1.
we concluded that the most probable impactor was a fast asteroid or a long-period comet with energy between 1.3x1024 J and 5.8x1025
J, mass between 1.0x1015 kg and 4.6x1017 kg, and diameter between 10.6 km and 80.9 km.
Assessments of the energy, mass and size of the Chicxulub Impactor
Hector Javier Durand-Manterola and Guadalupe Cordero-Tercero
Departamento de Ciencias Espaciales, Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México
https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6391
By Jim Sheltonoctober 21, 2019
A new study led by Yale University confirms a long-held theory about the last great mass extinction event in history and how it affected Earth’s oceans. The findings may also answer questions about how marine life eventually recovered.
The researchers say it is the first direct evidence that the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago coincided with a sharp drop in the pH levels of the oceans — which indicates a rise in ocean acidity.
“The ocean acidification we observe could easily have been the trigger for mass extinction in the marine realm,” said senior author Pincelli Hull, assistant professor of geology and geophysics at Yale.
The new study also may have settled a question regarding ocean pH levels leading up to K-Pg. Some researchers have theorized that volcanic eruptions starting hundreds of thousands of years before K-Pg had progressively made Earth more prone to a mass extinction event. This should be reflected in a steady decline in ocean pH levels up until the extinction.
“What we can show is that there is no real signal of gradual pH decline in the ocean in the lead-up to K-Pg,” Henehan said. “Our results do not support any major role for volcanic activity in priming the world for extinction.”
https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/21/mystery-solved-ocean-acidity-last-mass-extinction
3. 170 km wide crater? There appears to be little unanimity on the actual diameter of the crater with some estimates up to 200 km or more. The reasons for choosing 170 km are given in more detail on my Chicxulub Impactor page. Also mentioned on my Meteor Theory page.
Note: the larger diameters are obviously what's more easy to see but after supposedly 66 million years of erosion etc. The true original diameter may no longer be obvious and only discernable using special technical methods.
Bird pics
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net
Public domain
Frog
Temporal range:
Early Jurassic - Present, 200-0 Ma
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (literally without tail
in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may
extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago.
They are also seen as environmental bellwethers, with declines in frog populations often viewed as early warning signs of environmental damage.
For the skin to serve as a respiratory organ, it must remain moist. This makes frogs susceptible to various substances they may encounter in the environment,
some of which may be toxic and can dissolve in the water film and be passed into their bloodstream.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Litoria_phyllochroa.JPG
Attribution: Froggydarb
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Crocodile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nile_croc_couple_690V1510_-_Flickr_-_Lip_Kee.jpg
Attribution: Lip Kee from Singapore, Republic of Singapore
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
Platypus + Echidna pics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monotreme_collage.jpg
Four of the five extant monotreme species: platypus (top-left), short-beaked echidna (top-right), western long-beaked echidna (bottom-left), and replica
eastern long-beaked echidna (bottom-right).
Constituent files:
File:Platypus BrokenRiver QLD Australia.jpg
File:Long-beakedEchidna.jpg
File:Echidna in the Karawatha Forest - Radford.jpg
File:Zaglossus bartoni - MUSE.JPG
Attribution: Ypna
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
Monotremes
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous-Recent
[pic]
Four of the five extant monotreme species: platypus (top-left), short-beaked echidna (top-right), western long-beaked echidna (bottom-left), and replica
eastern long-beaked echidna (bottom-right)
Monotremes (/ˈmɒnətriːmz/, from Greek μονός, monos ('single') and τρῆμα, trema ('hole'), referring to the cloaca) are one of the three main groups of living
mammals, along with placentals (Eutheria) and marsupials (Metatheria).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme
The platypus is one of the few monotremes still in existence today. The egg-laying mammal was only recently discovered to have lived during the Jurassic
period. After analyzing a Teinolophos jawbone in 2008, University of Texas paleontologist Tim Rowe discovered that platypuses dated back as far as 122
million years ago.
Platypuses are one of only two mammalian species that lay eggs, the other being echidnas, or spiny anteaters.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/animals-as-old-as-dinosaurs_n_6982300
Teinolophos
Temporal range: Aptian ~120-113 Ma
Teinolophos is a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal. It is known from four specimens, each consisting of a partial lower jawbone collected
from the Wonthaggi Formation at Flat Rocks, Victoria, Australia. It lived during the Aptian age of the Lower Cretaceous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teinolophos
Platypus
Evolution, paleontology, and classification
Aquatically adapted platypus-like monotremes probably evolved from a more-generalized terrestrial monotreme. The first occurrence in the fossil record of a
platypus-like monotreme is from about 110 million years ago, in the early Cretaceous Period, when Australia was still connected to South America by Antarctica.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/platypus
Salamander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SpottedSalamander.jpg
Attribution: Camazine at English Wikipedia
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Salamander
Temporal range:
Late Jurassic - Present, 160-0 Ma
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at
right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander
Tortoise
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net
Public domain
Turtle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_Box_Turtle_Digon3_re-edited.jpg
Florida Box Turtle
Attribution: Jonathan Zander (Digon3)
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
"Chicxulub crater location"
constructed using
"North America laea location map" by Uwe Dedering, used under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Cropped and approximate crater location circled.
"Chicxulub crater location" is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by Stephen Robert Buckley.
Creative Commons licenses
CC BY-SA 3.0
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
CC BY-SA 4.0
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Ma - million years ago.
Ba - billion years ago.
K-T, K-Pg boundary, extinction event
Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction) was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters
of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event
Chicxulub
pronounced [and my choice of a few]:
"Chik-shoo-loob"
Experts Reaffirm Asteroid Impact Caused Mass Extinction
MARCH 4, 2010
Some scientists have suggested that the Chicxulub (“chik-shoo-loob”) impact in Mexico ...
https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2010/03/experts-reaffirm-asteroid-impact-caused-mass-extinction/
Meteor Crater Location in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, near the town of Chicxulub.
"North America laea location map"
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_America_laea_location_map.svg
Attribution: Uwe Dedering
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Chicxulub impact site
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicxulub_impact_-_artist_impression.jpg
This painting by Donald E. Davis depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast
Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction
of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The impact spewed hundreds of billions of tons of sulfur into the atmosphere, producing a worldwide
blackout and freezing temperatures which persisted for at least a decade. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up
to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds.
Author: Donald E. Davis
Public Domain
1. The two guys from Mexico:
We considered the density of the projectile as 1650 kg m-3 for comets (Greenberg, 1998), 3400 kg m-3 for stony asteroids (Wilkison and Robinson, 2000), and 8000 kg m-3 for iron asteroids (Hills and Goda, 1993). ... Steel (1998) obtained an estimation of the range of velocities for bodies that cross Earth's orbit. For asteroids the interval is between 12.6 km s-1 and 40.7 km s-1. This result is based on measurements of the velocities of the asteroids that cross Earth's orbit.
The range for comets is between 16 km s-1 and 73 km s-1.
we concluded that the most probable impactor was a fast asteroid or a long-period comet with energy between 1.3x1024 J and 5.8x1025
J, mass between 1.0x1015 kg and 4.6x1017 kg, and diameter between 10.6 km and 80.9 km.
Assessments of the energy, mass and size of the Chicxulub Impactor
Hector Javier Durand-Manterola and Guadalupe Cordero-Tercero
Departamento de Ciencias Espaciales, Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México
https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6391
By Jim Sheltonoctober 21, 2019
A new study led by Yale University confirms a long-held theory about the last great mass extinction event in history and how it affected Earth’s oceans. The findings may also answer questions about how marine life eventually recovered.
The researchers say it is the first direct evidence that the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago coincided with a sharp drop in the pH levels of the oceans — which indicates a rise in ocean acidity.
“The ocean acidification we observe could easily have been the trigger for mass extinction in the marine realm,” said senior author Pincelli Hull, assistant professor of geology and geophysics at Yale.
The new study also may have settled a question regarding ocean pH levels leading up to K-Pg. Some researchers have theorized that volcanic eruptions starting hundreds of thousands of years before K-Pg had progressively made Earth more prone to a mass extinction event. This should be reflected in a steady decline in ocean pH levels up until the extinction.
“What we can show is that there is no real signal of gradual pH decline in the ocean in the lead-up to K-Pg,” Henehan said. “Our results do not support any major role for volcanic activity in priming the world for extinction.”
https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/21/mystery-solved-ocean-acidity-last-mass-extinction
3. 170 km wide crater? There appears to be little unanimity on the actual diameter of the crater with some estimates up to 200 km or more. The reasons for choosing 170 km are given in more detail on my Chicxulub Impactor page. Also mentioned on my Meteor Theory page.
Note: the larger diameters are obviously what's more easy to see but after supposedly 66 million years of erosion etc. The true original diameter may no longer be obvious and only discernable using special technical methods.
Bird pics
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net
Public domain
Frog
Temporal range:
Early Jurassic - Present, 200-0 Ma
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (literally without tail
in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may
extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago.
They are also seen as environmental bellwethers, with declines in frog populations often viewed as early warning signs of environmental damage.
For the skin to serve as a respiratory organ, it must remain moist. This makes frogs susceptible to various substances they may encounter in the environment,
some of which may be toxic and can dissolve in the water film and be passed into their bloodstream.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Litoria_phyllochroa.JPG
Attribution: Froggydarb
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Crocodile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nile_croc_couple_690V1510_-_Flickr_-_Lip_Kee.jpg
Attribution: Lip Kee from Singapore, Republic of Singapore
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
Platypus + Echidna pics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monotreme_collage.jpg
Four of the five extant monotreme species: platypus (top-left), short-beaked echidna (top-right), western long-beaked echidna (bottom-left), and replica
eastern long-beaked echidna (bottom-right).
Constituent files:
File:Platypus BrokenRiver QLD Australia.jpg
File:Long-beakedEchidna.jpg
File:Echidna in the Karawatha Forest - Radford.jpg
File:Zaglossus bartoni - MUSE.JPG
Attribution: Ypna
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
Monotremes
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous-Recent
[pic]
Four of the five extant monotreme species: platypus (top-left), short-beaked echidna (top-right), western long-beaked echidna (bottom-left), and replica
eastern long-beaked echidna (bottom-right)
Monotremes (/ˈmɒnətriːmz/, from Greek μονός, monos ('single') and τρῆμα, trema ('hole'), referring to the cloaca) are one of the three main groups of living
mammals, along with placentals (Eutheria) and marsupials (Metatheria).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme
The platypus is one of the few monotremes still in existence today. The egg-laying mammal was only recently discovered to have lived during the Jurassic
period. After analyzing a Teinolophos jawbone in 2008, University of Texas paleontologist Tim Rowe discovered that platypuses dated back as far as 122
million years ago.
Platypuses are one of only two mammalian species that lay eggs, the other being echidnas, or spiny anteaters.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/animals-as-old-as-dinosaurs_n_6982300
Teinolophos
Temporal range: Aptian ~120-113 Ma
Teinolophos is a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal. It is known from four specimens, each consisting of a partial lower jawbone collected
from the Wonthaggi Formation at Flat Rocks, Victoria, Australia. It lived during the Aptian age of the Lower Cretaceous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teinolophos
Platypus
Evolution, paleontology, and classification
Aquatically adapted platypus-like monotremes probably evolved from a more-generalized terrestrial monotreme. The first occurrence in the fossil record of a
platypus-like monotreme is from about 110 million years ago, in the early Cretaceous Period, when Australia was still connected to South America by Antarctica.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/platypus
Salamander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SpottedSalamander.jpg
Attribution: Camazine at English Wikipedia
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Salamander
Temporal range:
Late Jurassic - Present, 160-0 Ma
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at
right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander
Tortoise
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net
Public domain
Turtle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_Box_Turtle_Digon3_re-edited.jpg
Florida Box Turtle
Attribution: Jonathan Zander (Digon3)
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
"Chicxulub crater location"
constructed using
"North America laea location map" by Uwe Dedering, used under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Cropped and approximate crater location circled.
"Chicxulub crater location" is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by Stephen Robert Buckley.
Creative Commons licenses
CC BY-SA 3.0
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
CC BY-SA 4.0
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Stephen Buckley
E-mail: greatesthoax [at] duck.com
Last revised: 10 Apr 2023.
Construction started about 24 Oct 2020.
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Page design/construction Stephen Buckley 2020.