A volcanic eruption drove the dinosaurs to extinction.
A volcanic eruption drove dinosaurs to extinction
A new model revealed that toxic gases from India's Deccan Traps mega-volcano proved to be fatal for the extinct creatures rather than a meteor strike as previously thought.
Boffins at Dartmouth College designed a simulation using geological data to assess over 300,000 possible scenarios. It was prompted to explain the fossil records across the million years before and after the dinosaurs went extinct.
Study co-author Brenhin Keller said: "We've known historically that volcanoes can cause massive extinctions. But this is the first independent estimation of volatile emissions taken from the evidence of their environmental effects.
"Our model worked through the data independently and without human bias to determine the amount of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide required to produce the climate and carbon disruptions we see in this geologic record.
"These amounts turned out to be consistent with what we expect to see in emissions from the Deccan Traps."