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What can the Fossil Record Tell Us About the Terminal Cretaceous Extinction Event and the Disappearance of the Dinosaurs?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

William J. Zinsmeister
William J. Zinsmeister*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
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Extract

During the past decade, the scientific community, media and general public have witnessed one of most fascinating scientific debates of the century concerning the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous that resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs. It is doubtful that, if dinosaurs had not been among the principal characters, the Terminal Cretaceous Extinction Event (TCEE) would have received such close attention. The fact that so much attention has been given to dinosaur extinction when in fact, they played only a minor role in the TCEE, has shifted the focus away from more fundamental unresolved questions concerning this profound biotic event 65 mya (million years ago).

Type
Extinctions
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 7: Dino Fest , 1994 , pp. 487 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Paleontological Society 

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