USA -- Sixty-six million years ago may be considered as one of the most eventful days in the history of life on Earth. It is the day that scientists believe that an asteroid hit the surface of the Earth and wiped out all the traces of life in the planet. Today, the site is known as the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It left the earth with massive destruction and what can be considered as a mass extinction -- the fifth based on planet history.
Nonavian dinosaurs -- those that couldn't fly -- along with the coil-shelled squid called ammonites were dead and completely disappeared. There were some groups of animals that survived the hit like lizards and mammals, but they too suffered from the effects of dramatic aftermath. The creatures that survived and the ones that perished have set the stage for a new life on Earth -- including the origin of human life about 300,000 years ago.
The impact of the Chixulub was catastrophic but it helped transition into the new world. It left with it a rock layer that is too distinctive it cannot be left unnoticed. It is spiked with an element known as iridium often found in meteorites and asteroids. The asteroid ended the Cretaceous period and paved the way to the Paleogene. There were lines found on the stone which marks the end of the dinosaur era and the beginning of the age of the mammals.
Although this shift remains to be debatable among experts, recent studies seem to back up the claim. The fossil site in North Dakota is causing a serious dent on this debate. The marks that were found in the new sit seem to have documented the last few hours of the reign of the dinosaurs.
The fossil assemblage recently found was named after the ancient city in Egypt -- Tanis. Robert de Palma, a graduate student of the University of Kansas, along with the other collaborators in the study were the ones who were able to excavate the new evidence. There were also remnants of fossilized fish and other marine organisms embedded in the rocks and other debris.
However, many paleontologists were quick to ask questions about the new findings that were presented by the New Yorker. They raised particular concerns about that claims that were made on the paper but not on the scientific paper released on the site. The paper only published about the hip fragment which nevertheless caused scientist to conclude that it was indeed the asteroid that hit the earth that wiped out all the dinosaurs and the life that they came with.
"Unfortunately, the scientific paper could have contained more information about the findings instead of these details appearing in the New Yorker alone," says Kirk Johnson, current director of the Museum for Natural History. "Leaving out important details of the discovery makes for sloppy research work. Many interesting data was left out, which could then be dismissed as something more like a rumor than an actual output of a study."
What could have ended the era of the dinosaurs on Earth? This is an interesting aspect of science that may just get people to be interested at it again.
