The extinction of dinosaurs is one of the most important mysterys of our planet. Why have the lizards, who have been dominated in all the Earth ' s ecosystems for many millions of years, died in a relatively short time? Most often, there's a huge asteroid in the Gulf of Mexico. But, as it turns out, the lizards were not killed by a warm sky and acid rain, but by slacks from a burning oil spill. The only way to explain why crocodiles, birds and mammals survived this catastrophe is the authors of the latest study published in the Scientific Reports.

In world science, dinosaur extinction is most commonly attributed to “catastrophic” hypotheses. Dinosaurs (as well as ammonites and sea reptiles) could destroy volcanic activity, a meteorite strike, a supernova outbreak near the solar system, a fall in ocean level. Patient paleontologists are mostly biospheric: dinosaurs have disappeared gradually because of the spread of flower plants and climate cooling. Plant evolution has caused numerous insects. They, as well as plants, feed small mammals (rats). There's an appropriate little predator, too mammals. Adult dinosaurs could not be threatened, but the eggs of the lizards became their prey, because it was extremely difficult to protect the future of progeny because of their magnitude. These and other adverse conditions have gradually weakened the viability of lizards, although there has been no direct competition between them and the mammals.

In Western paleontology, the “catastrophic” explanations prevail. The first violin was played by the Chixouluba quater, the third largest on the planet (about 180 kilometres). It is believed that the crash caused a huge asteroid 65 million years ago. In 1980, American physics Luis Alvarez and his geologic son predicted that a coincidence at the time of the fall of the Chixauluba asteroid and the extinction of the dinosaurs was not an accident. One of the main arguments in favour of meteorite hypothesis is the thin layer of glina, which pervades the geological boundary. Alvarez pointed to the anomalous concentration of rare metal iridium (mostly extraterrestrial) in this layer. It is unclear what role in the birth of the hypotheses about the ruined asteroid dinosaurs has been played by Alvarez ' s personal experience (he was one of the founders of the atomic bomb), but his version of 30 years has become very popular.