Talk:Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
From Academic Kids
I removed a list of explanations. This appears to have been shamelessly ripped off from this page (http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Communication/Couch/101Theories.html). --LMS
Can anyone tell me exactly (ok, roughly will do!) how long the dino-extinction took please? Deni.
"K-T" is on most of the redirects to Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, and that seems logical since it is abbreviating something hyphenated. (It's the head of what i used in my attempt to find the article.)
Yet "KT" is used twice in the first 'graph. Is that bcz the pros use KT, or is it just a guess that no one has fixed? --Jerzy 22:26, 2004 Feb 20 (UTC)
Actually, i now see that "K-T" is used in the 4th- and 3rd-to-last 'graphs, which sound more knowledgable. I'll change the KT references soon if no one responds, since the article is self-contradictory. --Jerzy 22:32, 2004 Feb 20 (UTC)
Didn't the orignal Alvarez paper concern specifically Gubbio, Italy? IIRC, the evidence became "worldwide" at a later date. --Jerzy(t) 05:42, 2004 Apr 29 (UTC)
Use of the Alvarez K-T extinction model as de facto is not warranted. The same mechanism would need to be invoked to explain other mass extinctions such as the Permian (whose process profiles do not so easily accord with an impact diagnosis). Presumably, those disappearing species which heralded the extinction process several million years prior to the K-T boundary must have used sophisticated astrometric instrumentation to see the asteroid coming, frightening themselves out of existence. Occam’s razor should dictate the more likely probability of gradual but heavy volcanism and subsequent environmental change. Evidence for this prosaic alternative is much easier to come by than a largely transatlantic led indulgence for a Hollywoodised disaster scenario. Work on other external impositions on the terrestrial environment, by MacClean and others, also deserve more merit - despite the lack of the PR machine afforded the Alvarez clan.
It is also no accident that an asteroidal impact theory prospers in a nation keen on indulging strategic defence on an industrial scale.
Steve Ringwood
Well said, indeed, Steve. The problem is that whereas you have sound reasoning on your side, you are opposed by tons of lurid magazine covers showing asteroids hitting the earth with dinosaurs in the foreground plus a dozen films with the same premise. The real science got lost in this a long time ago - which forgive me seemed to happen on a regular basis in any undertaking where Gould was involved.
If people wonder why this issue was so important to clarify instead of obfuscating, it is that our planet seems to be undergoing similar climate changes right now directly related to magnetic fields and volcanism, especially on the deepest part of the ocean floor. The Alvarez-Gould circus of Lysenkian proportions may very well have left mankind stunned like mullets when they should have been preparing themselves for the possible onset of a second Ice Age.
I'm sure Steven J. Gould would be happy that his legacy will consist not only of derailing anthropology for the past thirty years but also being instrumental in the deaths of millions of people in the Northern hemisphere who were watching the skies for theatrical cosmic intruders when they should have been keeping their eyes right down here on the planet around them instead, where the real action was.
(effeminate crypto communist edited these comments to make them more thought neutral) 13 Nov 2004
- Cleve Blakemore
Whence the K?
- Geologists' abbreviating of the Cretaceous period by "K" reflects the need to avoid ambiguity: the more obvious "C" would also be the natural first choice for the "Carboniferous" period.
That makes no sense: K is just as ambiguous as C. Actually, the K stands for Kreide, the German term for Cretaceous. Geology was happening in Germany when the term was coined back in the 19th century.
—Herbee 12:50, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Others attribute the K to the Greek "Kreta" which was a natural alternative to the Latin "Creta". Both of which mean chalk and latin/greek were still all the rage at the time. Incidentally, the name Cretaceous was first proposed by Jean-Baptiste-Julien d'Omalius d'Halloy in 1822 in relation to sections in France.
- Dragons flight 15:17, Nov 12, 2004 (UTC)
Deleted long uneeded footnote quote about Shiva crater. The reference is there as a link for those interested. Also deleted slanderous garbage from previous discussion comment above. We can be civil here. -Vsmith 18:26, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Deccan Traps section
"Other scientists think the extensive volcanic activity in India known as the Deccan Traps may have been responsible for, or contributed to, the extinction. However, paleontologists remained skeptical, as their reading of the fossil record suggested that the mass extinctions did not take place over a period as short as a few years, but instead occurred gradually over about ten million years, a time frame more consistent with massive volcanism. There was also a certain general distrust of a group of physicists intruding into their domain of expertise."
I don't see quite how this makes sense. Paleontologists are sceptical of the gradual-extinction massive volcanism theory caused by the Deccan Traps because their information points to a gradual extinction? It then goes on to say how they slowly came to accept a rapid extinction theory such as meteor impact instead of the slow-extinction Deccan Traps one. I'm not sure quite what whoever wrote this means to say, so I haven't changed it, but someone should make it clearer. --Orborde 05:20, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
Search Problem
Listening to Melvin Bragg's programme on Radio 4 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/) today (23 June 2005), I wanted to read more on the discussion topic, 'KT Boundary'. On typing in 'KT Boundary' in the search box, I got nothing in the first four or five pages that would have taken me there, even though there's a 'Category:KT boundary'. Being still fairly new to Wikipedia, I don't know how to set up synonyms for the proper article. --MaxHund 08:42, 2005 Jun 23 (UTC)
- Not sure why that wouldn't return the correct article, because KT boundary and K-T boundary both redirect to this page, and normally the search takes you directly to the relevant article if the title matches the search query.
- If you want to make redirects, it's quite simple - if you want article A to redirect the reader to article B, then just type #REDIRECT [[article B]] in article A - you can see what I mean here (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KT_boundary&action=edit). Worldtraveller 09:07, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
