Mass Extinction by Gassing!

NOVA had an interesting program this evening proposing the theory that
many of the mass extinctions ending past geologic eras may have come
about by poison gas!

The Earth would go into a global warming phase, usually because of many
active volcanoes belching huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The oceans would warm until most of the dissolved oxygen escaped into
the air. Then anaerobic bacteria would take over in the ocean's depths
producing large amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas! (Rotten eggs smell.)
The toxic gas would kill most of the life in the oceans, and then the
gas would bubble out to pollute the atmosphere too. Land animals would
then also die off, no longer able to breath air without succumbing to
the poisonous gas!

Many of these die offs show up in the geologic record, and it is
unlikely they were all caused by asteroids.

It could happen again, anytime, especially now that global warming has
been engaged!

Double-A

Double-A Its nice when on NOVA you watch another way dinosaurs could
have been wiped out. I posted that large warm blooded animals such as
rats could have eaten their eggs. Having ground nests makes this idea
fit so well. Also rat type animals have the right kind of teeth.
Still a large meteorite or comet is so much more dynamic Maybe it was
all three. over say 150,000 years. Comet,Co2,and rats Bert

G=EMC^2 Glazier wrote:
Double-A Its nice when on NOVA you watch another way dinosaurs could
have been wiped out. I posted that large warm blooded animals such as
rats could have eaten their eggs. Having ground nests makes this idea
fit so well. Also rat type animals have the right kind of teeth.
Still a large meteorite or comet is so much more dynamic Maybe it was
all three. over say 150,000 years. Comet,Co2,and rats Bert


These events supposedly happened before the dinosaurs had even evolved.
There is reportedly evidence that a number of times in earlier eras
the prevalent forms of life were wiped out.

Double-A