THE controversy over whether a huge asteroid really wiped out three-quarters of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs, has taken another twist. New data gleaned from fossil plants shows that the impact 65 million years ago sparked a dramatic change in climate.
The asteroid that slammed into Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period gouged out a crater the size of Maryland. The smash converted huge quantities of carbonate rock into carbon dioxide, and earthquakes and fires ravaged the planet in its aftermath.
This might have created a sudden greenhouse effect that caused the mass extinction, but some scientists doubt that the asteroid was responsible (
Now David Beerling at the University of Sheffield and ...
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