Reign of the Dinosaurs Linked to Meteor Crashing Off Wales

Summary

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A meteor the size of Cardiff crash-landing off the Welsh coast is believed to have created the reign of giant dinosaurs. A study by scientists in Northern Ireland, published in the journal Geology, shows a colossal impact which would have drastically changed the Earth's climate 200 million years ago, wiping out many species and leaving a gap in which the previously puny dinosaurs could evolve and grow to massive sizes. The time of the meteorite impact matches up with earlier research suggesting a rapid increase in the size of dinosaurs at the same time - an evolutionary step which has previously puzzled scientists. They had not been able to explain how monsters such as the tyrannosaurus rex or brontosaurus had suddenly come about after the end of the Triassic period. One theory has been that increases in the atmosphere's carbon dioxide levels created bigger plants, meaning bigger herbivores which in turn led to bigger predators.

However there has also been the theory that a meteorite, much like the one which many believe ultimately killed off the dinosaurs, was responsible for the massive change in the species of prehistoric Earth. The idea has now been backed up by studies showing sudden increases of the metal element iridium - relatively rare on Earth but found on asteroids - which occurred around 200 million years ago.

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Reign of the Dinosaurs Linked to Meteor Crashing Off Wales

Dr Michael Simms, curator of paleontology at Ulster Museum in Belfast, who headed the research, says rock study findings taken from a number of locations in Wales, as well as in Engl...

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