Did meteoric impact cause the mass extinction of dinosaurs
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Did Meteorite Impact Cause the Extinction of the Dinosaurs?
There have been various theories on what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, all of which have there own facts and evidence. One theory is that a meteor or asteroid crashed to the earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and other living things. Through the data collected and evidence found, I believe this theory to be inaccurate due to not enough facts to support it, too many holes in the theory, and other valid theories or scenarios that could have caused the extinction.
One reason why I think this theory is inaccurate is because dinosaurs were almost already extinct before the mass extinction at the end of the cretaceous period. The amount of dinosaur families was already decreasing due to many other minor extinctions and background extinctions. Also, the end of the cretaceous period was a time of high plate tectonic activity, with the split of Pangaea already taken place. This was also a time of high volcanic activity. Evidence of shocked quartz was said to be formed by impact, but could also be formed by volcanic or tectonic activity.
Another issue that goes against this theory is that meteoric impact was not uncommon during this time period...