What evidence is there to support the asteroid collision theory?

The asteroid impact theory is supported by quite a bit of evidence. For example, the fossil record shows that dinosaurs went extinct very suddenly. This is more consistent with a major disaster like an asteroid impact than it is with a gradual change in climate or volcanic activity.

What evidence do scientists use to show that dinosaurs once existed on Earth?

Paleontologists are like detectives who examine the evidence that extinct animals left behind. Those clues to what dinosaurs were like are found in fossils—the ancient remains of an organism, such as teeth, bone, or shell—or evidence of animal activity, such as footprints and trackways.

What additional observations and findings supported the asteroid impact hypothesis?

What additional observations and findings supported the asteroid-impact hypothesis? Scientists have found glass spherules, shocked quartz, and tektites in the K-T layer. These findings are consistent with a collision or explosion that generated an immense amount of heat and high-energy shock waves.

What evidence supports the impact hypothesis for the end Cretaceous extinction?

A mass extinction occurs when at least 60 percent of species are wiped out within 1 million years. What evidence supports the impact hypothesis for the end-Cretaceous extinction? Sedimentary rocks from the K-Pg boundary layer contain large amounts of iridium.

What are the major theories explaining the disappearance of the dinosaurs?

Today, paleontologists have discerned that most dinosaur lineages disappeared by about 66 million years ago after intense volcanic activity, climate change and a catastrophic asteroid impact triggered one of the worst mass extinctions in our planet’s history. Many forms of life disappeared.

What did the asteroid do to the dinosaurs?

Sixty-six million years ago, a mountain-size asteroid slammed into Earth just off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, dooming the dinosaurs and leading to their extinction.

What piece of evidence initially convinced Dr Alvarez that a mass extinction had occurred at the KT boundary quizlet?

The first clue that an asteroid had struck earth at around the same time as the mass extinction was the amount of iridium around the K-T boundary.

What evidence in the fossil record supports the explanation that volcanic activity caused the Cretaceous extinction?

Lava flows like these provide evidence of a rash of volcanic activity for at least 500,000 years leading up to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The metal iridium, which is similar to platinum, is very rare on Earth’s surface but is more common in asteroids and in molten rock deep within the planet.

Which is the best hypothesis for the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period?

Alvarez hypothesis
The Alvarez hypothesis posits that the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and many other living things during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth.

Was there an asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs?

There was certainly a massive asteroid impact, but previous evidence showed that the asteroid impact occurred up to 300,000 years before the extinction of the dinosaurs.

What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

A team of American and European researchers have confirmed that the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction-the event that wiped out roughly 75\% of the planet’s species, including almost every dinosaur-was caused by an asteroid impact in Mexico 66 million years ago.

Did a cosmic impact end the age of dinosaurs?

Scientists now have fresh evidence that such a cosmic impact ended the age of dinosaurs near what is now the town of Chixculub in Mexico. (Image credit: Don Davis) The idea that a cosmic impact ended the age of dinosaurs in what is now Mexico now has fresh new support, researchers say.

Why are we still talking about the asteroid that wiped out life?

Because it was not the first time much of the life on Earth was wiped out, and it may not be the last. Astronomers have been keeping an eye out for asteroids that could, in future years, be on a crash course with us. There’s a small asteroid called 2012 DA14 that will come within 17,200 miles of Earth this month.