What Killed the Dinosaurs?
Introduction
Dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic era which began 245 million years ago. It lasted for about 180 million years. It was also known by the Age of the Reptiles. The era was divided by three eras. The Triassic, Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. The Triassic period was when all the continents on Earth were still connected. The super continent was called Pangaea. During the Triassic period(245 - 208 million years ago), Pangaea started breaking apart. Many reptiles, frogs, turtles, and crocodiles existed during it, but the dinosaurs didn't appear until the late Triassic. The first dinosaurs were lightly built, small dinosaurs. The first mammals formed during the Triassic period. The period ended with MASS EXTINCTION. During the extinction, wiped out entire order of plants and animals. But some still survived, which brings us to the Jurassic period. The Jurassic period started 208 million years ago and ended 146 million years ago. This was when the more larger dinosaurs started to form. This was period was known as the flourishing period of the dinosaurs. Birdlike dinosaurs first appeared during the Jurassic. But extinction also brought an end to the Jurassic, but it wasn't as large as the Triassic. At the end of the Jurassic, the Cretaceous period had began(146 to 65 million years ago). Pangaea had started breaking down into smaller pieces and had partially spread apart. Wide varieties of dinosaurs roamed and mammals had began to flourish. Birds had appeared and had spread all over the globe. But, again major extinction had struck the dinosaurs. The second largest extinction of all time brought an end to the age of the Reptiles, and the start of the age of the Mammals. But, extinction of the dinosaur species had brought an end to all three periods. But what had caused it? This question continues to rack the minds of all archaeologists around the globe.Archaeologists have many ideas of what had brought an end to the age of the dinosaurs. The most popular theory is the Asteroid theory. Many people think that a large asteroid had collided with Earth and a huge cloud of dust had blocked out the sun. Because many animals and plants need sunlight to survive, the change in climate had impacted the dinosaurs and had killed them.
Another theory is Volcanic activity. Scientists believe that volcanoes had pumped so much ash into the air that it had blocked out the sun. Again, because of the sudden climate change, dinosaurs couldn't adapt fast enough and had become extinct.
Some scientists believe that an small ice age had happened at the end of the Cretaceous. The sudden drop in temperature had negatively impacted the dinosaurs and had caused them extinction.
