Dinosaur extinction

Were the dinosaurs killed by a meteorite?

The latest dinosaur extinction theory suggests that the Earth was struck from space by a six-mile-wide meteorite (a comet or asteroid). Such a collision could have left a huge layer of dust in the atmosphere. The dust could have been enough to block out the sun’s light for months and perhaps years. Because most plants need lots of sunlight, this would have destroyed many of them. The dinosaurs would have starved on a cold, darkened planet.

What is wrong with this theory?

If the meteorite collision really happened, why did other forms of life survive--including birds, small vertebrates (including mammals), big crocodiles, insects, flowering plants, freshwater plants and animals, various types of sea life, etc.?

The primary evidence for this great collision from space comes from certain types of clay with metal called iridium in them. Asteroids have this element. However, this does not necessarily mean that deposits had to come from the explosion of an asteroid.

The Earth’s core also has this metal in it. Iridium can be brought up by volcanic eruptions. Could some of these deposits of metal be evidence of large volcanic eruptions of iridium in the past? It is interesting that some Bible-believing scientists conclude that most of the dinosaurs were killed and buried during a relatively short period of time. And during this time, they believe, the Earth was probably in the midst of the greatest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions ever known.

No matter where each of the iridium deposits came from, it is important to notice they all had something in common. The iridium was buried in the midst of tons of hardened mud and sands called sediment. Such thick layers of sediment suggest that something more than asteroids was involved in the death and extinction of dinosaurs.

NEXT — Where did most of the dinosaur fossils come from?

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