Scientists have discovered how dinosaurs became extinct from the Earth. The team of scientists led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium has found the reason behind the disappearance of dinosaurs nearly 66 million years ago.
Scientists say that the breaking of a large rock and the resulting dust scattered in the atmosphere caused heavy darkness. The sunlight did not reach the ground and all the plants started to wither. The amount of this dust was approximately 2,000 gigatons. That is, this dust was 11 times heavier than the weight of Mount Everest, which created a wall-like structure between the earth and the sky.
It remained in the atmosphere for 15 years. Due to the absence of sunlight reaching the Earth, a nuclear winter occurred worldwide. As a result, all the trees and plants were destroyed. In such a situation, all the herbivorous animals started dying. Even herbivorous dinosaurs started dying in this event. Not only dinosaurs but 75 per cent of living creatures disappeared from the Earth in these 15 years.
Efforts have been made continuously since the discovery of the Chicxulub crater in 1978 to solve the mystery of the extinction of dinosaurs. The claim that the extinction of dinosaurs was caused by the impact of a large asteroid has been made. However, the geological formation is not sufficient to reach this conclusion.
The spread of dust in the sky caused the extinction of dinosaurs. The particles of this dust were found at the Tanis fossil site in the American state of North Dakota. Researchers said that the particles of dust were between 0.8 and 8.0 micrometres in size, which is the perfect size to stay in the environment for 15 years. The researchers determined that the dust played a significant role in the extinction of large-scale organisms.
