Extinction of the Dinosaurs

               In the New York Times article, "The Death of the Dinosaurs" was written by Peter Brannen published on January 31, 2015, Brannen argues that mass extinction caused by climate change and volcanoes is a better explanation to how things happened rather than saying it was caused by a "colossal fireball from heaven."
The Death of the Dinosaurs Article


               Dr. Gerta Keller, a geologist from Princeton University, developed a hypothesis that explains the mass extinction of dinosaurs among other animals from that era. Essentially, Dr.Keller's hypothesis conveys the idea that mass extinction was caused by the change of climate and volcanic eruptions. She has found evidence in Texas and Tunisa to support her hypothesis.


               The Alvarez's are made up of two men, Luis and Walter Alvarez who are a team of father and son scientists. The Alvarez hypothesis says that mass extinction was caused by a massive fireball that was sent from "heaven."


               Mass extinction is when deadly force of nature kills one or more species, the earth has endured 5 of these. This makes me feel nervous because the sixth mass extinction could be coming up in the next hundreds of thousands of years which I supposed would be terrifying seeing the world on fire and just be torn apart ending all life on earth.


                Dr. Keller found evidence inside rocks from Texas and Tunisa, "that indicate the warming episodes of at least 7 degrees Fahrenheit in under 10,000 years, with acidifying oceans that killed all but the hardest life-forms, which then thrived for millenniums." She also discovered evidence that the India lava flooding overlaps the dinosaur extinction.


               In my opinion, the hypothesis that is the best is the one Dr. Keller came up with. I believe this because there's a lot more solid evidence supporting it and it makes more sense.