Impact of the Deccan traps on the biosphere 66 million years ago.

[Wade Thompson]

Hello, everyone. I have been reading on the kt/kpg mass extinction event and all the various theories that have been proposed over the years on what caused it. What almost all the theories have to put it lightly, been thrown out the window, there is one theory that remains, and that is the iconic and well known asteroid impact theory.

However there are a group of researchers who argue that while the asteroid may have killed off the non avian dinosaurs, the asteroid was al ready putting the dinosaurs in decline. For example, Dr. Gerta Kellar of Princeton university argues that around 250,000 years ago before the Kpg boundary, peak volcanic activity occurred. This volcanic activity continued for about 500,000 years into the early danian. In case you’re wondering what study says that look up “Paleoenvironmental implications of Deccan volcanism relative to the Cretaceous-Paleocene (K-pg) mass extinction: evidence from the ‘red bole’ record’’. 

On the other hand however the majority of scientists agree that the asteroid was the main cause of the extinction event and the Deccan traps were at most, only a minor part as to why the Kt extinction event happened. For example, a 2020 study called “Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction” ran some models and showed that the Deccan traps did not have the capacity to kill all of the non avian dinosaurs while chicxulub and the impact winter that came from its impact with earth was enough to kill the non avian dinosaurs. 

For any paleontologists in the mailing group that are familiar with this topic, I’m sorry if this is a dumb question. I’m just fascinated by dinosaurs and extinct life in general and mass extinctions especially the kt extinction event in particular fascinate me.