Did climate change wipe out the dinosaurs? 04 March 04

For years everyone has subscribed to the theory that a massive asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. There was even a crater to prove it – the Chicxulub crater on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Now new research suggests that the crater is too old (by 300,000 years) and the scientists involved suggest an alternative mechanism, dramatic climate change caused by huge volcanic eruptions in the Deccan area of modern-day India. Check out the Reuters news article, or see an abstract of the scientific paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.