Scientists Can Finally Point to the Volcanoes that Gave Rise to the Dinosaurs

Scientists across the world believe a series of volcanoes 200 million years ago may have played a major role in making way for dinosaurs to rule the Earth, according to an article published in journal Science.

For years, scientists have speculated regarding possible volcanic involvement in the dinosaurs' rise to domination, but couldn't find any eruption deposits that corresponded with the right time period.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Terrence Blackburn thinks he may have solved the puzzle. By using a new technique for dating rocks, Blackburn and his colleagues believe they have located eruptions that resulted in 2.5 million cubic miles of lava spreading across the Earth's surface in a time period of just 600,000 years and ultimately led to the rift that has since become the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the eruption was so huge that scientists have named the area the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).

In the past others have suggested a link between the CAMP eruptions and the loss of half of the world's species 200 million years ago, but the dating techniques used in the past always had a margin of error of 1 to 3 million years. Today, using modern techniques, that number is now just a few thousand years.

All of the basalt samples that were dated came from the CAMP, which took place during a time when scientists believe that most of the world was still one land mass. In this case, Blackburn and his team gathered samples from Morocco where the earliest eruption took place, as well as Nova Scotia and New Jersey.

One theory as to why the volcanoes were so effective is the likely climate change that resulted after due to the massive release of volcanic ash and carbon dioxide. Those who did not adapt quickly enough were killed off.