Paleontologists have discovered the remains of dinosaurs, which, according to scientists, finally confirm the hypothesis of the death of dinosaurs as a result of a meteorite fall 65 million years ago. An article by scientists appeared in the journal Biology Letters
The hypothesis of a meteorite fall was first confirmed in 1980, when scientists discovered a geological layer 65 million years old, rich in iridium, an element that is found in many celestial bodies. The Chicxulub crater was later discovered, which made it possible to confirm that at the end of the Cretaceous period, the Earth collided with an asteroid.
Many scientists, however, stated that the fall of the asteroid was not the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. As an argument, they cited the so-called 3-meter gap - dinosaur remains were found only in sediments that lay at least three meters deeper than the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (on average, the deeper the sediment, the older it is). From this it was concluded that the dinosaur population at the time of the fall of the asteroid was already declining.
The find of scientists, made in the state of Montana, is a single bone - a fragment of a horn (presumably Triceratops or Torosaurus) 45 centimeters long. The fragment was found only 13 centimeters below the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. From this, the researchers concluded that the dinosaurs "felt great" before the meteorite hit.
The new work has already been criticized by experts. According to some scientists, the authors of the work draw far-reaching conclusions based on a single bone.