New dating of a colossal series of volcanic outpourings bolsters the idea that the Chicxulub asteroid impact had help in wiping out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
Using crystals embedded in lava layers, geologists have deduced the most precise timing yet for the massive Deccan eruptions that poured out hundreds of thousands of cubic kilometers of molten rock in West India. The most intense volcanic activity began about 250,000 years before the Chicxulub impact and continued for another roughly 500,000 years after it, the researchers report online December 11 in Science. The finding supports the hypothesis that climate disruptions caused by the eruptions played a major role in the dinosaurs’ extinction, says study coauthor Gerta Keller, a paleontologist at Princeton University.