Serious Inquiries Only SIO462: The Day the Dinos Died
Oct 31, 2024
Join Dr. Eric Jaffe, a biology expert and dinosaur aficionado, as he uncovers the dramatic details of the dinosaurs' demise. He reveals the cataclysmic meteor impact that triggered their extinction and explores how life adapted and survived afterward. Delve into the patterns of past mass extinctions and their implications for modern biodiversity. Dr. Jaffe also highlights the fascinating connection between ancient ecosystems and present-day fossil fuels, illustrating the ever-evolving story of life on Earth.
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Chicxulub's Significance
- The Chicxulub impact, though famous for killing dinosaurs, isn't the biggest mass extinction.
- It's the timescale and the involvement of global processes that make it captivating.
Ordovician Extinction
- The Ordovician extinction, 450 million years ago, primarily affected marine life.
- Land was dominated by plants and insects, not yet vertebrates.
Terraforming and Extinction
- Mass extinctions often involve new organisms altering the atmosphere or oceans.
- This causes devastation, exemplified by the Great Oxidation Event where photosynthesis produced poisonous oxygen.