Re: Theories on the extinction of dinosaurs

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/19/99 11:05:19 PM EST, sarima@ix.netcom.com writes:

<< >It's pretty clear that there would have been no mass extinction without 
the 
 >impact.
 
 Not at all. It is pretty clear that any mass extinction that occurred would
 *probably* have been of lesser extent. >>

This is certainly not clear to me at all. I don't believe the dinosaurs were 
on their way out at all at the end of the Cretaceous. A few groups might have 
been in decline, but other groups (hadrosaurs, titanosaurs, ceratopians) were 
doing just fine. Had there been no K-T impact, these groups certainly would 
have continued to flourish well into what we call the Cenozoic. Dinosaur 
faunas in Europe and South America were quite diverse and robust. I don't see 
any dinosaurian mass extinction happening without the impact.