New research reveals the cause of the mass death of dinosaurs

A newly published study has shared the latest evidence about what killed the dinosaurs .

Two geologists Brenhin Keller and Alexander Cox from Dartmouth College (USA) have developed a new method to conclude that the cause of dinosaur extinction was toxic gas.

Most studies on this issue start with the assumption that the mass extinction 66 million years ago was caused by an asteroid hitting Earth or a volcanic eruption.

New research suggests that the cause of dinosaur extinction was toxic gas.

Geologists Keller and Cox used a computer model to make their calculations. For input data, they looked at cylindrical sediment cores drilled from deep below the ocean.

Those layers, inhabited by microorganisms called foraminifera , offer clues about ocean acidity over time as well as the amount of carbon and sulfur dioxide in the environment.

These two gases are believed to have played a role in the extinction that killed the dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.

However, scientists debate whether they were released by an asteroid strike or a series of volcanic eruptions.

Geologists Keller and Cox simulated different scenarios, using Markov chain Monte Carlo statistical models to calculate probabilities based on the evidence collected.

They found that volcanic gases were a sufficient explanation for the environmental changes that led to the demise of the dinosaurs.

Meanwhile, a near-simultaneous asteroid strike, which left a large crater in the Gulf of Mexico, had little effect on the genocide.

In their modeling efforts, geologists Keller and Cox used dozens of computer processors in parallel. Run one after another, their simulations took more than a year to complete. By contrast, because the models were running simultaneously, data was collected in a matter of days.