Dinosaur Extinction

Here's a list of links to extinction theories:
The extinction of the Dinosaurs 65 milllion years ago has not been the only large extinction in earths history. Here is a list of other large scale extinctions:
  • Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, about 65 million years ago - loss of land animals including dinosaurs
  • End Triassic extinction, roughly 199 million to 214 million years ago - loss of marine animals
  • Permian-Triassic extinction, about 251 million years ago - loss of land species: animals, plants, insects
  • Late Devonian extinction, about 364 million years ago - loss of marine animals
  • Ordovician-Silurian extinction, about 439 million years ago - loss of marine animals
Here is a link to a web site that gives the percent probability for each of the current theories concerning dinosaur extinction
One of the Geological markers for the extinction of dinosaurs is the K-T (cretaceous (K) and tertiary (T)boundary). The boundary is notable bacause it is extremely rich in iridium. For a link to a web page concerning the K-T boundary click here.
Picture by George Arthur Bush, Cretaceous Dawn © 1996

A short listing of different readings concerning dinosaur extinction theory:

  • The complete dinosaur / edited by James O. Farlow and M.K. Brett-Surman ; art editor, Robert F. Walters. c1997.
  • Officer, Charles B. The great dinosaur extinction controversy / Charles Officer & Jake Page. c1996.
  • Bakker, Robert T. The dinosaur heresies : new theories unlocking the mystery of the dinosaurs and their extinction / Robert T. Bakker. c1986.
  • A possible causal relationship between extinction of dinosaurs and K/T iridium enrichment in the Nanxiong Basin, South China; evidence from dinosaur eggshells, Zhao Zikui In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, January 01, 2002, Vol. 178, Issue 1-2, pp.1-17
  • Dinosaur extinction; changing views, Archibald, J. David, 2002, pp.99-106
  • Does a 'three-meter gap' at the top of the Hell Creek Formation indicate dinosaurs were declining prior to the boloid impact?, Sheehan, Peter M. In: Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, 1999, Vol. 31, Issue 7, pp.473
  • "T. rex and the Crater of Doom" by Walter Alvarez, 1997, Princeton University Press, 204 pages
  • Vanishing Life : The Mystery of Mass Extinctions by Jeff Hecht (September 1993)
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Creator: Andrew Smith
Physical Geology April 2003
http://www.earlham.edu/~parkero/webs.htm

This website is part of a Geology 211 class project on Processes in Physical Geology.
Copyright © 2003 Earlham College. Revised April 7 2003. Send corrections or comments to smithan@earlham.edu