Scientists have been researching over the demise of dinosaurs for long now. Day after day there are new findings about what must have caused the extinction for the large reptiles. While the dinosaur extinction is studied in-depth, it is important to understand their arrival and rise. A new research by the Bristol University suggests that dinosaurs benefitted from another mass extinction which happened 232 million years ago. More than 200 million years ago, life on the earth was destroyed due to a dramatic shift in the carbon cycle. This event was due to a lot of volcanic eruptions which led to a period of climate change over millions of years. This is called the Carnian Pluvial Episode.
The experts from the Bristol University have analyzed the rocks located in an Italian mountain range known as the Dolomites. They found a series of dinosaur footprints in these rock layers. This gave them an understanding about how and when the dinosaurs became dominant. “The discovery of the existence of a link between the first diversification of dinosaurs and a global mass extinction is important. The extinction didn’t just clear the way for the age of the dinosaurs, but also for the origins of many modern groups, including lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and mammals – key land animals today,” said study co-author Mike Benton.
The rise of dinosaurs was at the same time towards the end of Carnian Pluvial Episode. Previous studies have pointed out to volcanic eruptions in Canada followed by periods of acidic rain. A lot of dinosaur skeletons were found from Argentina and Brazil. The scientists then compared the findings with the ones from Italy and found the similarities, concluding that the explosion would have happened globally. So dinosaurs arose across the globe at same point. "We were excited to see that the footprints and skeletons told the same story. We had been studying the footprints in the Dolomites for some time, and it's amazing how clear cut the change from "no dinosaurs" to "all dinosaurs" was," said lead author Dr. Massimo Bernardi. Researchers published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
So what is said to have caused the end of the dinosaurs is also said to have been a reason which resulted in their rise on the planet!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2018 09:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).