US EditionDinosaurs Were Thriving in North America Before the Mass-Extinction Asteroid Strike, Study Suggests
- On October 23, the study published in Science reported new dating of the Naashoibito Member in New Mexico shows non-avian dinosaurs were thriving about 340,000 years before the Chicxulub asteroid impact.
- Scientists have long debated whether non-avian dinosaurs declined before impact, but that debate was hindered by limited, well-dated fossils from the Maastrichtian age and the Hell Creek and Fort Union Formations.
- Using magnetic flips and argon-isotope dating, the team dated the Naashoibito Member between 66.4 million and 66 million years, placing fossils within about 340,000 years of the asteroid strike.
- Distinct dinosaur communities suggest western North America hosted multiple regional dinosaur communities, with Alamosaurus returning in the south before extinction, supporting complex ecosystems cut short by the asteroid.
- Flynn urged more sampling from understudied localities, saying `This work really highlights the need to work on new, previously understudied localities across this incredibly important time in Earth's history`, while independent experts cautioned one location cannot represent a global picture.
113 Articles
113 Articles
NMSU geologist leads study suggesting dinosaurs were thriving in North America before asteroid strike
LAS CRUCES — A geology professor who joined the New Mexico State University faculty this year is the lead author of a new paper addressing a long-standing question about the extinction of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study finds
What happenedDinosaurs appear to have been thriving before a giant asteroid hit the Earth 66 million years ago, paleontologists working in New Mexico said Thursday in the journal Science. Experts have long debated whether the asteroid was the final blow to a dinosaur population already in decline or if it cut short a flourishing reptilian dynasty. Who said whatUsing “two high-tech dating techniques” on fossil beds in northwest New Mexico’s Ojo A…
Scientists believe that dinosaurs flourished on Earth before the asteroid hit.
New York Post
Signs of the TimesDinosaurs thrived in North America before the mass-extinction asteroid strike, new study shows
New research suggests dinosaur populations were still thriving in North America before the asteroid strike, but it’s only one piece of the global picture, independent experts say.
The Independent
The Independent (US)New research challenges long-held theory about dinosaurs before asteroid hit
This finding offers a fresh perspective ver whether dinosaur numbers were already in decline
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