Study about Dinosaurs - Mystery of Growth and Extinction Correction, Mystery of Growth and Extinction of Dinosaurs

It has been considered that mass extinction of dinosaurs – a complex problem of geology – has happened due to impact of a huge stone on earth as suggested by the father and son team of Alvarez who in 1980 proposed the view. Despite some criticisms, the view of Alvarez and Alvarez has been overwhelmingly supported by a large section of geologists, including paleontologists and other branches of sciences.

Here the author presents a substantially dissimilar view on extinction of dinosaurs for which it has been considered prerequisite to comprehend the cause of growth of the huge animals. From the extensive coal deposits of the Permian and Carboniferous era, it can be assumed that due to widespread photosynthesis of glossopteris-rich forests, oxygen content of the atmosphere of the Triassic period - that immediately followed - became significantly high. From this view possible reason for rapid growth of some animals can be assumed to be due to favorable oxygen-enriched environment with plenty of food material that prevailed during the Triassic period. In consequence, the animals that roamed in oxygen-enriched environment of that time where plenty of food was also available, naturally grew up to large size. Nevertheless, a completely contrasting situation prevailed during the K-T boundary stage when extensive volcanism took place in various parts of the globe for which oxygen content of the atmosphere was substantially reduced. This selectively caused extinction of the large animals which required higher amount of oxygen for sustenance, whereas the smaller animals remained unaffected.