dinosaurs Archives - The Silver Ink

An asteroid crash that took place about 65 million years ago is blamed for supposedly wiping out all the dinosaurs on Earth. And now the scientists are very close to solve the age-old mystery behind this dino-killing asteroid crash.

According to the reports, the scientists have planned to carry drilling of 5,000 feet (or 1,500 meters) below the Chicxulub crater’s surface in Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, in order to get up a giant core. The drilling project is scheduled to commence in spring next year.

All though the scientists have known about the site of the supposed event of space-rock and believed on the theory for decades, this would be for the first time when offshore core will be taken out from near the crater’s center.

The study showed that the age-old known asteroid, which is believed to have omitted the existence of the dinosaurs millions of years ago, is expected to have not led to global firestorms that are thought to have ravaged the Earth.

The new fossil evidence is hinting towards the possibility of a sixth event of mass extinction in the history of the Earth.

Sean Gulick, study co-author from The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics, said, “The Chicxulub impact crater has been a remarkable scientific opportunity for the 20 years since it’s been discovered.”

The scientists keenly observed the whole 125-mile-wide Chicxulub crater and identified a spot along its peak ring, which is a ring of mountain-like structures located around the crater’s center.

According to the scientists, the collision between a high-speed space-rock and the planet’s surface causes the crust to act like a liquid temporarily. Firstly, a so-called transient crater is formed and then the center rebounds, splashes, first upward and then outward.

Even though this is just a theory till now, the researchers are hoping that this drilling project is likely to uncover some crucial evidences to support this widely believed theory.

The iconic name Brontosaurus, which was once used for describing a huge dinosaurs family, has been resurrected after being dead for more than a century ago.

The scientists had in the year 1903 decided to consider Brontosaurus as a more complete specimen of a different type of dinosaur. However, with the advent of many more specimens of plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs, the scientists have got enough space to carry out a more expansive analysis of their bones.

The coining of the name ‘Brontosaurus’ goes back to the ‘Bone Wars’ of the late 1800s, when fossil hunters Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh raced new names of dinosaur into the scientific literature.

Both Cope and Marsh were drawn to the American west for the rich fossil beds in their quest for new specimens.

Two long-necked sauropods were discovered by Marsh’s team. The fossil hunter called one Apatosaurus ajax, while the second skeleton was named Brontosaurus excelsus.

Shortly after the death of Marsh in 1903, a team of scientists discovered a skeleton that appeared like a cross between Brontosaurus and another long-necked behemoth Apatosaurus, which was discovered by Marsh in 1877.

The science community unanimously gave approval to the classification of both dinosaurs as the separate species under one genus called Apatosaurus.

Unfortunately, Brontosaurus was officially termed extinct again.

But then on Tuesday, the researchers from the UK and Portugal once again brought Brontosaurus back in news by presenting strong evidence that Brontosaurus is actually a distinct species and genus.

The researchers calculated subtle differences between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus fossils using statistical analyses and found that there exist numerous variations between each species and therefore they warranted an entirely new genus. This led to the rebirth of Brontosaurus.

The findings of the study were published in the open access journal PeerJ.

Mystery of age-old asteroid that wiped out Dinosaurs may be solved soon

New study gives rebirth to Brontosaurus dinosaurs family

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