BERLIN, March 19 (UPI) -- Severe climate change, and not a meteorite, was the main reason behind the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and other species 65 million years ago, a new study concludes.
Conducted by scientists from Germany, Switzerland and the United States, the study takes into account climate, geological and paleontological data collected during several drillings near Brazos River in Texas.
"We have come up with completely new data that are poised to change the interpretation of this time in history," one of the scientists, Michael Prauss of Berlin's Free University, told United Press International in a telephone interview Friday. "The main reason for the mass extinction were massive climatic changes that began long before the meteorite hit."
This directly contrasts a study published this month in the journal Science, which claims that a meteorite crashing into Earth at Chicxulub on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula was the sole cause for the mass dying and that no climate shifts occurred ahead of the meteorite impact.
"These claims have to at least be questioned now in light of the new findings," he said, adding that the meteorite impact "brought additional stress into an already stressed system. But it was only the last straw."
Together with Gerta Keller, a paleontologist at Princeton University, and other scientists from Germany and Switzerland, Prauss concluded that severe climate change -- periods of extreme warming and cooling coupled with sea level changes -- started roughly 1 million years before the meteorite hit.
The climate shifts, likely sparked by severe volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in what now is India, became more extreme as years passed. The meteorite impact only worsened an already catastrophic climate, Prauss said.
Then began Earth's biggest mass dying. The extinction wiped out more than half of all species on the planet, including the dinosaurs, bird-like pterosaurs and large marine reptile. It cleared the way for the success story of the mammals.
If the vast majority of climate scientists is to be believed, humans are currently facing a similarly crucial junction.
While Prauss didn't want to compare the climate change forecast for the next centuries to that of the the Cretaceous-Tertiary era, he said mankind is technically able to survive dinosaur-era-like climate stress.
"Because of his intellect, man is able to adapt to a changing climate," he said. "But he has to take concrete measures to adapt, to protect himself, and he has to take them early on before it's too late."
