What Causes Extinction?
9th Grade · Science · 60 min
Lesson Preview
Learning Objective
I can analyze the causes and consequences of extinction events.
- 1
Around 66 million years ago, an Everest-sized asteroid hit Earth, but new evidence suggests that the Deccan Traps may have also contributed to the dinosaurs' extinction.
- 2
The Deccan Traps began exhaling about 10 million tonnes of CO₂ and sulfur dioxide each year, leading to a period of heating and then cooling that stressed ecosystems.
- 3
About 50,000 years before the asteroid impact, the Deccan Traps spewed out tens of trillions of tons of magma and deadly gasses, potentially creating hypercanes that ripped holes in the ozone layer.
