Recent research suggests that massive volcanic eruptions in India, though impactful on the climate, were not the direct cause of dinosaur extinction. Instead, the Chicxulub meteorite impact approximately 66 million years ago is identified as the primary catalyst for this mass extinction event, triggering global climate alterations, including an “impact winter” that devastated ecosystems. For decades, scientists debated the significance of volcanic activity on the dinosaurs’ demise, as these eruptions occurred shortly before the meteorite hit.
New findings from researchers at Utrecht University and the University of Manchester reveal that while volcanic eruptions caused a temporary cooling effect, their climatic impacts had diminished thousands of years prior to the meteorite collision. By analyzing fossil molecules from ancient sediments, scientists established a temperature timeline connecting the volcanic activity and the meteorite impact events. They found that cooling linked to volcanic sulfur emissions had stabilized by around 20,000 years before the meteorite strike. The research underscores that while these volcanic eruptions significantly altered the Earth’s climate, their effects were minimal compared to the catastrophic consequences of the Chicxulub impact, which included wildfires, tsunamis, and darkness leading to ecosystem collapse.
