The Day That The Dinosaurs Died

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08r3xhf/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died?suggid=b08r3xhf

Wonderful program. Its exactly the kind of program that I wish we had more of, instead of all the dross. I can recommend it all !

[tonyav]

A new take on an old theory.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/scientists-have-discovered-exactly-how-dinosaurs-were-wiped-out/ar-BBBbS71?li=BBAu9V4

[Calibax]

I think the argument was that small mammals, rather than eating leaves, ate seeds, nuts and insects and were therefore able to survive long enough until the sunlight started to break through again.

[RobNorth]

A lot of those dinosaurs would have been "good" dinosaurs, and presumably are now in heaven, which has always worried me, because when I get there I don't want to meet a sabre tooth tiger, even a good one....

[mikey4444]

Arksided....only too happy to oblige ! I am a sucker for any geology program.

I can remember learning about the strange KT boundary when I was studying Geology as a boy in the 1960s. Back then we didn't have the evidence but we do now. Fascinating !

One in the eye for all the creationists !

[EDDIE51]

I was aware of most of it but I did not realise how much the 'Nuclear Winter' was a result of the impact being on an area of Gypsum . The gypsum was instantly turned into a vapour which was shot miles into the atmosphere where it quickly condensed back to a dust which very efficiently absorbed the sunlight.
As said, a few seconds later and as said the Earth's rotation would have meant the impact was over the ocean, which would not have sent the gypsum into the atmosphere and the impact would have been far less catastrophic.

[Arksided]

I can't deny, I'm far from being a geologist, and aware from other shows where the impact was located but Gypsum, blimey! That's new to me.

[RobNorth]

The crater left by this event is 110 miles across and straddles the coastline - but in any event, with an asteroid six miles across and travelling at 20 miles per second, I don't think that an ocean would have saved the dinosaurs. Hundreds is of cubic miles of debris entered the atmosphere and some went into orbit, much of it molten rock, which also toasted the earth's surface and anything on it for a short time.