dinosaurs
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Doomsday for Dinosaurs was a live streaming show on cosmic and global evolution presented at the GEM Theater in Panguitch Utah February 26, 2021. To promote their new exhibit of dinosaur skulls, the talk focused on the rise and fall of dinosaurs in a world of explosions, catastrophes, and extinctions.
Doomsday for Dinosaurs - a melodrama in four acts
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what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur?
origin, evolution, diversity, abundance, and distribution
did any dinosaurs survive the asteroid impact? birds
where do asteroids come from?
how do asteroid impacts cause mass extinctions?
how does climate change cause mass extinctions?
what else came to Earth from space in the past?
what other catastrophes caused mass extinctions? |
Act I - 13.8 BY of Explosions, Catastrophes, and Mass Extinctions
9 BYs of cosmic evolution led to the violent birth of Earth and Moon and 700 MY Hadean eon
summary of the evolutionary history of the universe
- Energy and matter evolved in the first few minutes of our expanding homogeneous universe
- Dark matter preserved primordial quantum density fluctuations before the universe was cool enough for ordinary matter to condense to form a cosmic web of stars and galaxies
- Ordinary matter was attracted to the dark matter cosmic web when the expanding universe cooled
- The first stars were massive, short-lived, and had none of the building blocks for rocky planets or life
- Supernovas synthesized and dispersed the building blocks for later generations of less massive, long-lived stars with rocky planets and the ingredients and conditions for life to evolve
the sands of time recorded the 4 BY evolutionary history of life on Earth that began in the Archean eon
The sands of time record the evolutionary history of the Earth and life. Recent deposits of sediments bury earlier deposits. The earliest history is buried the deepest and so our history starts at the bottom of the diagram. The 4.5 billion year history of the Earth began when the universe was nine billion years old.
It consists of four geological eons: Hadean, Archaean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic.
Earth was uninhabitable in the Hadean Eon due to hellish conditions including the late heavy bombardment of space rocks.
The Archaean Eon saw the origin of life in its earliest and simplest forms, possibly triggered by conditions created by asteroid impacts.
The two billion long Proterozoic Eon saw the development of most of the molecular and metabolic processes necessary for complex life and it ended with the Cambrian explosion of complex organisms that left a rich fossil record in the sands of time.
The Phanerozoic Eon began when the Cambrian explosion kicked off the Paleozoic era 541 MYA. Most groups of large animals evolved within 25 MY on a planet that was already 4 BY old.
It wasn’t long before the first of five global catastrophes led to mass extinctions as the Ordovician Period ended with the extinction of many of the trilobite species that had only evolved 100 million years earlier. The Devonian Period ended with the extinction of more trilobites and many fish 80 million years later.
The Permian extinction killed off all remaining trilobites and many marine species and insects and amphibians. What followed was the Mesozoic era evolution of reptiles, dinosaurs, and mammals. 50 MY later, the Triassic Period ended with the extinction of many reptiles and enabled dinosaurs to diversify throughout the Jurassic Period.
The asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous Period ended the Mesozoic era reign of dinosaurs 66 MYA. Many marine animals also went extinct. Within a million years of the start of the Cenozoic era, many massive and diverse mammals evolved from their small ancestors.
the 20 MY Cambrian explosion ended the Proterozoic eon and led to Phanerozoic eon mass extinctions
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biological evolution led to Paleozoic era extinctions; asteroids and volcanoes led to Mesozoic extinctions
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250 million years ago, life on Earth was about 3.5 billion years old. Bacteria, algae, fungus, plants, and animals evolved throughout the lands and waters. Invertebrates were diverse and abundant. Vertebrates included fish, amphibians, and reptiles. Dinosaurs, mammals, and birds had not appeared yet.
Act II - What Really Happened on Doomsday 66 MYA?
an extraterrestrial attack unexpectedly made a big splash
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visualization from Discovery channel visualization www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU1QPtOZQZU
But the reign of the thunder lizards was not to last. It was all done undone by a giant space rock.
About 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck near modern-day Mexico. Named Chicxulub [pronounced chick-soo-lube], which means “flea devil” in the local Maya language, this 6-mile-wide asteroid hit Earth at a speed of 12 miles per second (or 43,200 mph … that’s about 30 times faster than the speed of a supersonic jet).
The asteroid almost immediately incinerated dinosaurs within a 1,000-mile radius. Some scientists estimated its power was equal to 10 billion atomic bombs used during WWII. After it hit, wildfires spread out from the impact site; some started hundreds of miles away. It drilled a hole 12 miles long and 100 miles wide, and water displaced by the rock hitting the ocean formed a quarter-mile-high tsunami, that reached as far as modern-day Illinois.
But the real trouble was the amount of rock and sulfur the impact thrust into the atmosphere. Some 357 billion tons of sulfur went skyward, and eventually blocked the sun for decades. Without ample sunlight, the Earth cooled.
So while some scientists once thought the dinosaurs may have perished due to volcanic eruptions kick-started by the asteroid’s impact, or perhaps died of a resulting global plague, researchers now agree that the dinosaurs – and 75% of life on Earth – eventually froze to death.
the shock wave incinerated life a thousand miles away and triggered earthquakes and volcanoes
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The immediate impact was extraordinary.
It turns out the asteroid hit at precisely the right angle to inflict as much damage on the Earth and its inhabitants as possible. When an asteroid drops straight down into the Earth, it vaporizes fewer rocks and releases less gas. But Chicxulub hit a sulfur-rich area of the Earth’s surface at a 60-degree angle, which meant it kicked the maximum amount of sunlight-blocking sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That caused an immediate, planet-wide winter that the dinosaurs couldn’t survive.
That sulfur caused a torrent of acid rain that fell into the surrounding ocean, making the water more acidic and killing all plankton under the waves. Without those plankton, the marine ecosystem collapsed and a majority of ocean species went extinct.
Flying reptiles, like pterosaurs, and swimming reptiles, like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs also disappeared. Most mammals larger than rats died, and 50% of plant species were wiped out. The age of giant reptiles was over after one asteroid changed the planet’s destiny forever … and paved the way for mammals, including modern humans, to evolve.
the asteroid struck at the right time and place to have an impact exceptional for its size
sulfur and dust blocked the sun and collapsed the food web causing mass extinctions on land and sea
While the dinosaurs froze, volcanic eruptions near the equator pushed more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas acts like an insulator, trapping heat close to the planet and warming it. That resulting warming made it possibly for some of the hardier species – like birds and mammals – that survived the winter after the impact to start rebuilding Earth’s ecosystems in the equatorial region. Many small mammals (ancestors of the species that roam the planet today) survived the heat of the impact and following cold spell because they lived underground in burrows or in fresh water environments.
The asteroid and its aftermath killed most of the world’s forests, making it almost impossible for tree-dwelling birds to survive. But some of the birds that lived on the ground persisted, relying on grains and seeds to survive. Once the forests and plant life grew back, those birds colonized the treetops again and evolved into modern bird species.
Act III - Mesozoic Era Reptiles, Dinosaurs, and Mammals Compete
before Pangaea split into separate continents, reptiles and their descendants were free to roam everywhere
archosaurs on the reptile family tree evolved and thrived in Triassic period
dinosaurs dominated the planet during the balmy conditions of the Jurassic period
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the Cretaceous period breakup of Pangaea led to great dinosaur diversification
Act IV - The surprisingly Happy Ending
within a million years, the smallest mammals evolved to dominate the planet
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adaptive radiation produced the variety of mammals seen today on the land, at sea, and in the air
the branches of the tree of life co-evolved and diversified throughout the Cenozoic period
will the next catastrophe end the Cenozoic period or the entire Phanerozoic eon?
additional information
animations and illustrations
simulations and models
Wikipedia articles
The Earth has experienced many global catastrophes and mass extinctions in addition to the famous asteroid impact that preceded the extinction of dinosaurs. Here are some Wikipedia pdfs that you can download to learn more about the evolutionary history of Earth and its biosphere.
Cambrian–Ordovician_extinction_event – wiki
Cretaceous–Paleogene_extinction_event – wiki
Earliest_known_life_forms – wiki
End-Botomian_mass_extinction – wiki
Evolution_of_photosynthesis – wiki
Evolution_of_sexual_reproduction – wiki
Evolutionary_history_of_life – wiki
Evolutionary_history_of_plants – wiki
Geologic_temperature_record – wiki
Geological_history_of_Earth – wiki
Late_Devonian_extinction – wiki
Ordovician–Silurian_extinction_events – wiki
Origin_of_water_on_Earth – wiki
Permian–Triassic_extinction_event – wiki
The_Sixth_Extinction__An_Unnatural_History – wiki
Timeline_of_natural_history – wiki
Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life – wiki
Triassic–Jurassic_extinction_event – wiki
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more resources
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