Re: Theories on the extinction of dinosaurs

["James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

dbensen wrote:

> >>which is about 25% higher than now, that it
> was already falling toward the present level, and had been doing so for some
> time.

Oops, that was a description of Dudley's CO2 levels.  His oxygen was climbing 
gradually
into the early Tertiary.  My memory failed me.  Sorry.

> , not because the sun
> explodes, but because all our atmosphere boils away and we're left with 
> Mars's air.
> That would be unpleasent.  :)

Unlikely, till the sun leaves the Main Sequence.  At that time, you can count 
on it.

> Mmm, Actualy, the Permain Extinction was much, much worse, and I don't think 
> asteriod
> impact is a big theory for that one.

Quite true, and I don't think the asteroid was the 'Only Cause' for the 
Cretaceous
extinction either.

>  Asteriods (inless they're really
> big) don't do half as much damage as those subtle, chemical changes.

True.

> I bet that even if an asteriod the size of the Moon hit us (knocking a good 
> chunk of the
> Earth's crust
> into orbit) there would still be bacteria after it was all over.  Those 
> things are
> hardy.

I'm not sure they are hardy enough to survive having all their chemical bonds 
severed or
having their bodies converted to plasma.  Given a Moonstrike, you're talking 
about a
pretty healthy conversion of kinetic to thermal energy.

Jim