When I was young, the Deccan Traps were widely considered to be the most likely explanation of the KT extinction. But discovery of the Iridium signature and Chicxulub crater made it clear that there was another possibility whose short sharp impact would seem much more likely to explain the breadth of that extinction event. It is possible that the evolutionary stress of responding to the environmental fluctuations caused by the on-again-off-again earlier Deccan eruptions would leave the global ecosystem less (but also possibly more?) capable of surviving the impact without such permanent change, and also that such stresses due to eruptions after the impact might have made it harder for some species to recover, but the impact surely played a role. Also, the fact that there is apparently less of a dramatic signature in the foraminifera may be due to their apparent sensitivity to less intense but perhaps longer lasting changes. I don’t know, but the fact that the question of relative importance (of Traps vs Chicxulub) is still being discussed and voted on at conferences makes me doubt that proponents of the older theory are really considered “dangerous” to the scientific community as a whole (despite the unfortunate battle of egos that often distorts science – just as it also does for other domains of perceived human excellence)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: the most dangerous woman in science – Google Search<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was young, the Deccan Traps were widely considered to be the most likely explanation of the KT extinction. But discovery of the Iridium signature and Chicxulub crater made it clear that there was another possibility whose short sharp … Continue reading