Important theories about the extinction of

dinosaurs

Introduction:
A theory is a formal set of ideas that is intended to explain why something
happens or exists. There are several theories, some of them arent very
important, but there are ones which are very important; for example: The Big
Bang Theory, The Theory of why Kennedy was Killed, The Evolution Theory,
etc. However in this paper we are going to talk about one important theory, one
that has been discussed for several years.
This research presents the theme: Theories on how and why dinosaurs
vanished.
In our investigation, our research question is: Which of these two theories: The
Asteroid Theory or The Volcano Theory, explain more the extinction of
dinosaurs? And our hypothesis to be proved is that the best theory that proves
the extinction of dinosaurs is the Asteroid Theory.
This research is important for us, because we could learn more about this
specie that lived before us, and in addition when we were kids we wanted to
know about this big lizard, and now we could do it. We think this theme can help
us to know the theories that explain why dinosaurs vanish.
The objectives of this research are three. To begin with: To improve our capacity
of pronunciation at the time of speaking in front of the class. Secondly, to
develop our capacity of searching information and to synthesize it. And finally, to
learn more about theories of how and why dinosaurs vanish.
At the beginning we extract information from different sources such as internet
and books about our topic. Then, we analyze it and synthesize our information
and began our general information. Later on, we realize the evidence 1 and
evidence 2.
And finally, we did the introduction and conclusion.

We worked between May 3rd and May 29th and we delivered our paper on the
week of the 3rd of June.
Most of our research was developed in class but we also worked in our houses.
General information:
Dinosaurs lived during the 2nd half of the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era,
around 230 million years ago. These animals were a subclass of the reptiles
called Archosaurs.
Scientist began to study them during the 1820s, because they discovered some
large bones buried in an English Countryside. In 1842, Sir Richard Owen
studied three different bones of the creatures: Megalosaurus, Iguanadon and
Hylaeosaurus. He discovered that these three creatures belong to the same
species, he called this specie Dinosaurs, the word comes from the ancient
Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (reptile).
Dinosaurs lived in the Pangaea, when Pangaea broke apart Dinosaurs stayed
in all the continents, thats why they have been found in different continents.
Dinosaurs classified in three groups: Herbivorous, Carnivorous, and
Omnivorous. The herbivorous ate plants, carnivorous ate meat, and omnivorous
ate both
The most famous dinosaurs are:
1. The Theropoda: the word means Foot of beast. They were .the highclass predators, this means, they were carnivorous. They were bipeds,
with short arms and big foots. The most known Theropodas are the
Dinonicosauros and the Carnonaurios.
2. The Sauropodomorpha: the word means Foot of lizard. They had small
head, big body, legs and neck very large. They were herbivorous and
bipeds. The most known Sauropodomorpha are the Diplodocus and the
Brachiosaurus.

This specie disappeared around 65 million years ago, at the end of the
Cretaceous Period. Also other species of plants and animals died around the
date of dinosaurs extinction.
Many scientist have tried to explain the death of dinosaurs with theories, such
as the Disease Theory (dinosaurs died from a disease of fever), the Climate
Change (there was several extreme climate changes and dinosaurs couldnt
adapt to it), and there are other theories of this topic. But in our investigation we
are going to talk about two important theories of how and why dinosaurs vanish:
The Asteroid Theory and The Asteroid Theory.
Evidence 1: The asteroid theory
In this evidence we are going to show that: the asteroid theory explain better the
extinction of dinosaurs.
This theory begins with the impact of an asteroid in Yucatan Peninsula Mexico
about 65 million years ago on the Earth. The impact of this asteroid liberate
more energy than the biggest known nuclear bomb and this provoke a terrible
sequence of events such as: big earthquake (more than ten magnitude),
landslide, collapse of Earth platform of continents, acid rain, massive fire, but
the biggest consequence of this impact was the liberation of dust on the
atmosphere, because of this sun lights couldnt pass through the atmosphere
(so sun light couldnt get into earth). Because of this plants couldnt develop, so
the herbivore dinosaurs died of the absence of plant, their natural food, also this
provoked an eternal winter (also short age the food).
This asteroid provoke many negative effect because measure about 15km of
circumference.
The physicist Luis Walter Alvarez and his son, the geologist Walter Alvarez,
discovered in 1970 some proves that demonstrate that this theory is the most
correct, because they found some Iridium (element which is common on
asteroid) on Earth, especially on oceans and land surface.
A conference of experts supported this theory (this article appeared in the
Science Magazine) and dismissed the volcano theory. The expert Paul Rincon

(expert in science themes of the BBC) says: The 41 experts review the
investigations from the last 20 years to determinate the cause of the extinction
of dinosaurs, about 65 million years ago. He also said that the half of the
species of Earth, including dinosaurs vanished, this caused that mammals
became the dominant specie on Earth.
The review made by the experts defined that probably extinction of dinosaurs
was made by the impact of an asteroid in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.
Unluckily this theory is not confirmed yet.
Other experts as Peter Schulte (scientist who studied the investigation of Luis
Walter Alvarez and his son) and Ignacio Arenilla (micro paleontologist), state
that this theory is the correct because of the proves that have been discovered
on the Earth.
Evidence 2: The volcano theory
Secondly in this evidence we are going to explain that this theory explain less
the extinction of dinosaurs
The volcano theory is about that some volcanoes in the Deccan Traps, located
in India, erupted 65 million years ago, and this provoked a green house effect
for more than a million years and this conduced to the massive extinction.
One example of this events which followed the eruption of volcanoes is the
warming of the water and on land, causing the extinction of some species
because they couldnt adapted to the new temperature, and this became worst
because of the green house effect.
Experts as Luis Walter Alvarez, a Paleontologist, state that the other
paleontologist (the ones who support the volcano theory) were avoiding the
Signor-Lipps Effect (this effect sate that you cant know for sure the date of
death of a fossil without knowing the date of death of the first one and the last
one, so the supposition of the date could be completely wrong or completely
right), so the volcano theory hasnt a reliable support, because they hadnt
found a fossil that is too old and one too young, to know for sure that they died
in the date which the scientist who approve this theory had postulated. However

in the Asteroid Theory there are evidence that hold up this theory, for example
the Iridium that was found on Earth and is common in asteroids.
Another expert, Paul Renne (director of the Centre of Geochronology of the
University of Berkeley, California), state that the date of the eruption of the
volcanoes was before the massive extinction of dinosaurs. He discovered this
by the examination of volcanic ash that was achieved by Hell Creek Formation
in Montana, and some fossils of dinosaurs.
This theory is also wrong because of another detail, the eruption were caused
only in a part of India, so how could it affect the entire world?

Conclusion:
This paper accounts for a formal research we have developed. The theme of
the research we have presented above was about Theories on how and why
dinosaurs vanished.
The research question we state was Which of this two theories: the asteroid
theory or the volcano theory, explain more the extinction of dinosaurs?.
According to the answer we have provide, we can state that our hypothesis is
correct, because of all the proves that scientist has found around the world, for
example the iridium in the asteroid theory.
Experts such as Peter Schulte and Luis Walter Alvarez state that the most
correct theory is the asteroid theory. Besides, they claim that the volcano is not
the best to explain the extinction of dinosaurs, because of the effects of SignorLipps.
We think that our objectives were achieved because we know and we learned
more about different theories of dinosaurs. Also we improve our ability to search
information and synthesize it. But this objective, to improve our capacity of
pronunciation at the time of speaking in front of the class; is going to be
achieved when we show our oral presentation of the topic in front of the class
(in the second semester).

We think that this research was essential to learn more about dinosaurs that
lived before us, because we learnt to look for the right information about them
and understand it. Another theme connected with our research could be the
different kind of dinosaurs that exist.

Bibliography:
Web:
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/ciencia_tecnologia/2010/03/100304_224
3_ciencia_dinosaurios_asteroide_jaw.shtml
2. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efecto_Signor%E2%80%93Lipps
3. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinci%C3%B3n_masiva_del_Cret
%C3%A1cico-Terciario#Los_traps_del_Dec.C3.A1n
4. http://www.antena3.com/noticias/ciencia/nuevas-evidenciasdemuestran-que-asteroide-provoco-extinciondinosaurios_2013020700306.html
Book:
-

Apellido, Nombre (1993), The visual dictionary of dinosaurs, Editorial

Amereida S.A, London, UK.