Huge Volcano Eruptions May Have Caused The Die-Off That Paved The Way For Dino Domination
The Triassic die-off is one of 5 mass extinctions on Earth in the past 542 million years. We all know a gigantic asteroid is to blame for wiping out the dinosaurs--but what wiped out the animals that came before them? A changed climate, brought about by devastating volcanic eruptions, may have cleared the way. New research strengthens the argument that more than 200 million years ago, massive volcano eruptions spewed gargantuan amounts of noxious gas into the atmosphere, causing catastrophic global warming and acidification of the oceans. About 76 percent of the life forms on Earth perished, in a terrible die-off known as the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. It wasn't as bad as the Permian-Triassic Great Dying some 50 million years prior, but it was bad enough that half the species living on this planet disappeared. With plenty of new ecological niches to fill, dinosaurs took over the Earth for the next 135...