'Youngest' Dinosaur bone found!

[LongTomH]

Paleontologists digging near the Hell Creek Formation in Montana have found an 18-inch long, fossil horn belonging to a ceratopsian dinosaur.



This is reawakening a long-standing food fight, er intellectual debate between advocates of 'the asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs' and the various 'gradual extinction' hypotheses.

Advocates of the asteroid hypothesis point to the K-T boundary, a geological layer making a sharp boundary between the Cretaceous era (145.5 - 65.6 million years ago) and the Tertiary era (65.5 to 2.6 million years ago); that layer also marks the end of the Mesozoic era, the era of the dinosaurs. The K-T layer is rich in iridium, an element rare on earth but common in meteorites (ergo, asteroids) and 'shocked quartz' granules of the type you would expect with minerals subject to extreme heat and pressure.

The other group, the 'gradual extinction' group likes to point to the three meter gap, three meters of rock strata with relatively few dinosaur fossils. Gradual extinction advocates point to this layer to indicate that the dinosaurs were already dying out before the 'K-T Impactor' came along.

Now, this latest find comes along: a ceratopsian fossil found a few inches below the K-T boundary. This would tend to indicate that, at least some dinosaur species were doing fine up until the big rock came along.

Some online science articles are claiming this ends the big debate, actually it's providing red meat for both sides:

• BBC News: Closing the Three Metre Gap,
  
• RedOrbit: Scientists Find Fossil Below K-T Boundary,
  
• Wired.com: Triceratops Bones Support Asteroid Extinction Theory,
  
• The Loom: Youngest Dinosaur Bone Yet Reawakens Extinction Debate

[Countdown_3_2_1]

1. I like the asteroid theory just because

Its so much more...cinematic.

[damntexdem]

2. I like the hemorrhoid theory.

Well, sure, the asteroid theory is likely correct. But still, imagine those big bruisers with really big rectal issues. ;-)

[Countdown_3_2_1]

4. I made the mistake of looking that up in an image search once...

Poor dinosaurs. Musta just lost the will to live.

[gtar100]

3. Maybe it was the one that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on.

That was before he realized he wouldn't be scaring so many people away if he just rode in on a donkey.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

5. The asteroid that killed the Dino's was made of Jell-o

It turns out that Jell-o has iridium in it and that is what is found at the KT boundary.
An asteroid of Jell-o would cause all the normal asteroid problems plus it would leave a layer of Jell-o on the surface of the earth.
I'm sure that the Veggiesaurs would like the taste of Jell-O (It was probably the green or red stuff) more than the normal 'boring' vegetation and over stuff themselves with the jiggly food.
The Meatasaurs would then be eating Jell-O filled bloated Veggiesaurs (They might even eat some of the Jell-O as dessert) which would
shock their systems, making them sick and thus no longer able to run down the few remaining non-Jell-O'd Veggiesaurs. This would force them to eat more bloated Jell-o Veggiesaurs and then die. Those that refused to eat the Jell-o would undoubtedly be saddened by the loss of their
family and friends to the Jell-opocalypse that they would then take up smoking and die of lung cancer.


And that is the true story of how the dino's died. Just google 'iridium in jello' and see for yourselves. :)