In 1980, Luis and Walter Alvarez, a father and son team of geologists, decided to study the boundary between the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. They soon found many signs of an asteroid impact, including iridium and impact spherules.
A meteor impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs all died out. A major catastrophe, probably an asteroid impact, caused their extinction.
Although there is much speculation over what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, a large meteor did, in fact, strike the Earth shortly before the dinosaurs' extinction. The meteor is believed to have been approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. The impact location was the Yucatan peninsula and the event occurred around 65 million years ago. If the dating is correct this places the impact during Cretaceous period, which has led many to believe that the impact event triggered or facilitated the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Well, the extinction of the dinosaurs makes it a lot easier for people to survive.
Briefly, the theory is that the mass extinction which included the loss of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period was caused by the impact of a large asteroid.
Dinosaur?
We are still not sure what caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, though an asteroid impact seems to be the popular theory.Scientists believe we may be heading towards another mass extinction event.
A meteor hit the earth and caused severe condition that organisms could not survive.
The extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs is called the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event (K-T Extinction, for short... Yes, that is supposed to be a K). The crater left by the asteroid impact is called the Chixculub crater.
The K-T Extinction Event, which was probably caused by an impact from a 6 mile wide asteroid, wiped out dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, ammonites, and many other groups of animals. Some of the dinosaurs that existed at the time of the impact and were wiped out, hence they were among the last dinosaurs, include Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, Ankylosaurus.
Most dinosaurs died off about 65 million years ago. Most life on Earth ended 65 million years ago during what is called the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. There is substantial scientific evidence of an asteroid or comet impact on Earth that caused or was the primary contributor to the extinction. A few scientists still hold other views, including a massive eruption of volcanoes. See related links.
The K-T (Cretaceous and Tertiary) boundary event thought to have been caused by the impact of a large meteorite forming the Chicxulub crater as well as very large scale volcanic activity (in this case the large igneous province known as the Deccan Traps) is a very good example and is thought to have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.