Dinosaurs were wiped out by asteroid and volcanoes

FOR decades, scientists have been at loggerheads over whether dinosaurs were wiped out 66million years ago by an asteroid strike or a series of volcanic eruptions.

But now, thanks to new research, we know – and it turns out both theories are right.

Geologists believe an asteroid or comet hit the earth and triggered widespread and devastating eruptions that led to the last mass extinction on earth.

They say the catastrophic impact of a giant rock at least six miles wide followed by extensive lava flows was a devastating ‘one-two punch’. The asteroid’s collision in what is now Mexico left a crater 110 miles wide and 12 miles deep. The impact and the resulting eruptions would have blocked out the sun as dust and noxious gases blanketed the earth.

Researchers from the University of Berkeley in California studying volcanos in Decca, India, discovered a huge rise in volcanic activity after the impact.

Paul Renne, professor of Earth science, said: ‘Based on dating the lavas, we can be pretty certain that the volcanism and the impact occurred within 50,000 years of the extinction. Both phenomena were clearly at work at the same time.’