[meteorite-list] L'aigle and other meteorite names... just how do you say it?

From: mafer at imagineopals.com <mafer_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:14:08 +0000
Message-ID: <7477f7b7fede97e4db4ff4c3f57f5bf0_at_>

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/03/19/Study-Climate-stress-killed-dinosaurs/UPI-49171269025560/



Study: Climate stress killed dinosaurs
Published: March. 19, 2010 at 3:06 PM
By STEFAN NICOLA, UPI Europe Correspondent

BERLIN, March 19 (UPI) -- Severe climate change, and not a meteorite, was
the main reason behind the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and other
species 65 million years ago, a new study concludes.


Conducted by scientists from Germany, Switzerland and the United States,
the study takes into account climate, geological and paleontological data
collected during several drillings near Brazos River in Texas.


"We have come up with completely new data that are poised to change the
interpretation of this time in history," one of the scientists, Michael
Prauss of Berlin's Free University, told United Press International in a
telephone interview Friday. "The main reason for the mass extinction were
massive climatic changes that began long before the meteorite hit."


This directly contrasts a study published this month in the journal
Science, which claims that a meteorite crashing into Earth at Chicxulub on
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula was the sole cause for the mass dying and that
no climate shifts occurred ahead of the meteorite impact.


"These claims have to at least be questioned now in light of the new
findings," he said, adding that the meteorite impact "brought additional
stress into an already stressed system. But it was only the last straw."


Together with Gerta Keller, a paleontologist at Princeton University, and
other scientists from Germany and Switzerland, Prauss concluded that severe
climate change -- periods of extreme warming and cooling coupled with sea
level changes -- started roughly 1 million years before the meteorite hit.


The climate shifts, likely sparked by severe volcanic activity in the
Deccan Traps in what now is India, became more extreme as years passed. The
meteorite impact only worsened an already catastrophic climate, Prauss
said.


Then began Earth's biggest mass dying. The extinction wiped out more than
half of all species on the planet, including the dinosaurs, bird-like
pterosaurs and large marine reptile. It cleared the way for the success
story of the mammals.


If the vast majority of climate scientists is to be believed, humans are
currently facing a similarly crucial junction.


While Prauss didn't want to compare the climate change forecast for the
next centuries to that of the the Cretaceous-Tertiary era, he said mankind
is technically able to survive dinosaur-era-like climate stress.


"Because of his intellect, man is able to adapt to a changing climate," he
said. "But he has to take concrete measures to adapt, to protect himself,
and he has to take them early on before it's too late."



? 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Received on Sun 21 Mar 2010 09:14:08 AM PDT