|
Originally Posted by UBHoax.com Originally Posted by Dale E. Essary
...As one can plainly read from the text, The UB makes no mention of any mass extinction at 65 mya, when mass volcanism is supposed to have taken place. Nor is there any indication of a mass extinction event at The UB’s time line for the close of the Cretaceous (50 mya). And the lack of a mass extinction event at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary looms large in The UB’s account of natural history as regards dinosaurs. Evidently, the Life Carrier who sponsored Paper 61 is of the opinion that the dinosaur population hung around long after the close of the Cretaceous, and began to only gradually decline about 35 mya during the Miocene, apparently as the result of underdeveloped brains and competition with mammals (61:2.5,6).
A survey of the history of geology will show that these explanations for the dinosaur extinction were, in fact, the prevailing ideas during the penning of the fifth epochal revelation. A widely accepted theory during the early nineteenth century, called catastrophism, related mass extinction events to environmental disturbances that were provoked by sudden episodes of mountain upheaval. But instead of affirming the idea that all inhabitants of the earth had been swept away by catastrophes at successive periods, Darwin was firmly of the opinion that biotic interactions, such as competition for food and space, were of considerably more importance in promoting evolution and extinction than changes in the physical environment. As a result of Darwin’s influence, marked differences in fauna among the different epochs did not elicit much interest in terms of extinction during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and the study of extinction events remained dormant well beyond the turn of the twentieth century.[2]
As paleontologists became increasingly familiar with the extinctions that mark the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, various suggestions for modes of mass extinction began to appear during the late 1950s and into the 1970s, from nearby supernovae explosions to meteorite and comet impacts. Not surprisingly, in light of the lack of tangible evidence, they were also all virtually ignored. Not until 1977 did the situation change dramatically when geologist Walter Alvarez discovered a pencil-thin layer of clay at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary outside of the town of Gubbio, Italy. Alvarez sent samples of the clay to his father Luis, a physicist, who had the clay analyzed, and found that the samples contained approximately 30 times more of the metallic element iridium than is normal for the Earth’s crustal rocks. The Alvarez team hypothesized that an iridium-bearing asteroid had crashed into the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous. ... |
Re: Urantia Book: Complications and Contradictions Uncovered By Others 
The move did push back a post I made earlier in response to Modest's comment on paleontology, and as it garnered no comment I'm posting it again on the presumption it is overlooked. 
Nemo me impune lacesset. ~Unattested 
2 Many Bugs Champion!
