What catastrophic event most likely marked the end of the Mesozoic Era?
1 Answer
There was a catastrophic climate change from the hot uniform tropical climate of the Mesozoic to the present
Explanation:
The has been a debate as to the cause of the climatic climate change. Some arguing for rapid tectonic plate movements causing massive volcanic activity. Others arguing for a huge astroid collision with the earth spewing dust into the atmosphere
Recently these ideas have merged with the idea that the astroid may have been responsible for the evidence of massive volcanic activity around the time of the end of the Mesozoic.
Both Volcanic activity and an astroid collision would cause huge amounts of dust in the atmosphere blocking the sun and changing the climate of the entire earth. The large "cold blooded" reptiles that dominated the earth during the Mesozoic would have been unable to survive the catastrophic environmental changes.
The history of life on the earth is based on fossil evidence. The Mesozoic is defined by the presence of large reptiles. When the large reptiles went extinct that was the end of the Mesozoic Era.
The most popular theories are the astroid collision and the massive increase of volcanic activity. There is evidence for both theories . Other theories are an epidemic that attacked and killed all the dinosaurs. Competition from small mammals eating the eggs of the dinosaurs, All of these theories involve the rapid extinction of the Dinosaurs.
