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New research has found that dinosaurs were decimated by a deadly mixture of sulfur gases and cooled climate after a massive asteroid impact, RT reports.
Experts say the gases were released into the Earth’s atmosphere after the Chicxulub impact, and then orbited the globe for years, which in turn cooled the planet.
This contributed to the mass extinction of life about 66 million years ago, according to University of St Andrews researchers, who said dinosaurs were “really unlucky”.
Despite the disaster for dinosaurs and other life, the impact of a six-mile-wide asteroid in the Yucatan Peninsula allowed the diversification of mammals, including primates.
Dr Aubrey Zirkli, from the University of St Andrews’ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “One reason for this particular effect appears to have been so life-shattering is that it landed in a marine environment that was rich in sulfur and other volatiles. Dinosaurs were really unlucky.”
The research, conducted in partnership with Syracuse University, New York, University of Bristol and Texas A&M University, aimed to explore the consequences of an asteroid impact Chicxulub.
Sulfate aerosols have long been implicated as a major influencing factor for the mass extinction event, which marked the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Paleogene on Earth, but to what extent is unknown.
The new research was able to examine rare sulfur isotopes in materials ejected by the impact and deposited in a nearby sea now represented by rocks along the Brazos River in Texas.
Atmospheric sulfur in the stratosphere scattered incoming solar radiation and cooled the planet for extended periods of time for many years after the original forcing, causing acid rain and reducing the light available for photosynthesis, which is vital for plant life and the marine plankton that make up the food chain.
Their findings suggest that the presence of sulfur can only be attributed to the Chicxulub effect, rather than the prior theoretical effects of contemporary volcanism in the large volcanic Deccan Traps province.
The Cretaceous period, the third and final period of the Mesozoic era, lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago, and was characterized by a warm climate with reptiles and dinosaurs dominating the planet.
Its end was marked by the Cretaceous and Paleogene extinction event, a sudden mass extinction event that also marked the beginning of the Cenozoic era in which we still live today.
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