10 Facts about Dinosaur Extinction

Thursday, September 8th 2016. | History

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction talk about the mass extinction of the animal and plant species on earth. People also call this event as K-Pg or Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Others like to call it as K-T or the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. This event took place around 66 million years ago and affected the life of all non-avian dinosaurs. Here are other interesting facts about dinosaur extinction:

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 1: the exceptions

The tetrapods with the weight more than 25 kilograms or 55 pounds were not survived in the mass extinction event. But the crocodiles and leatherback sea turtles survive the event for they live in the aquatic environment.

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 2: the Cretaceous period

The dinosaur extinction signified the end of Cretaceous period. The end of this period starts the beginning of the Cenozoic era which takes places until this present day. Check facts about Dilophosaurus here.

dinosaur extinction pic

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 3: the K–Pg boundary

The K–Pg boundary is a term used to call a thin layer of sediment which can be found on the terrestrial and marine rocks. This boundary is significant as a geological record of the K-Pg event.

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 4: the metal iridium

The metal iridium is plentiful in the boundary clays of K-Pg. The high level of material is very high in asteroids, but this material is very rare on Earth’s crust. Get facts about ceratosaurus here.

dinosaur extinction images

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 5: Luis Alvarez

Luis Alvarez was the leader of a team of scientists who proposed the original version of K-Pg in 1980. This event is defined as the mass extinction due to the massive asteroid or comet which hit the earth 66 million years ago.

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 6: the effect of K-Pg

Due to the massive asteroid or comet which hit the earth, it was impossible for the planktons and plants to conduct photosynthesis.

dinosaur extinction facts

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 7: the Alvarez hypothesis

The Alvarez hypothesis is used to call the impact hypothesis. The K–Pg boundary clay featured the debris from asteroid after the discovery of Chicxulub crater in the beginning of 1990s. The crater is located in Gulf of Mexico which has the width at 112 miles or 180 km.

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 8: other causes

Even though some experts believe in K-Pg, others propose different causes of dinosaur extinction such as the climate change, volcanic eruption, and changes on the sea level.

Tyrannosaurus

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 9: the notable victims of K-Pg extinction

The non avian dinosaurs were considered as the most notable victims of K-Pg extinction.

Facts about Dinosaur Extinction 10: other victims

There were many other victims caused by the events such as the certain plants, insects, lizards, birds, mammals, fish, giant marine lizards and pterosaurs.