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From: ccs013@castor.ucdavis.edu (Jason)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Asteroids and Dinosaurs (was Re: asteroid almost hits earth)
Message-ID: <4300@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Date: 13 May 89 13:03:55 GMT
References: <256@ringwood.Morgan.COM> <3200009@hpindda.HP.COM> <4566@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM> <2635@ssc-vax.UUCP> <103026@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <6101@nfs4.rl.ac.uk>
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Reply-To: ccs013@castor.ucdavis.edu (Jason)
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In article <6101@nfs4.rl.ac.uk> kgd@inf.rl.ac.uk (Keith Dancey) writes:
>>Sun for months or years, and causing mass extinctions of life -- including,
>>many believe, the dinosaurs.
>My understanding is that the demise of the dinosaurs extended over a period
>of order of magnitude of a thousand years.

...etc....

Please correct me if I am wrong, but is this one of the theories (proofs) behind
 the "asteroid theory" of the extinction of the dinosaurs ?:

Layers of Iridium were found deep into the earth's crust ( i.e. in the layers
of the Grand Canyon).  Now, being that Iridium is rare on earth but found
to be relatively more bountiful in asteroids and meteors, it is suggested
that the layer of this element was put on our planet by an extremely large
(or as previously mentioned a few extremely large) asteroid(s) which hit
earth and caused the clouds of dust ...etc., which eventually killed off the
dinosaurs.  This dust, if the theory is accurate, was filled with Iridium and
when settled created a solid layer over years of rain, erosion ...etc...

Is this a widely accepted view? What are the opposing ideas?

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