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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (314287)	10/14/2016 10:57:33 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542941

A comet impact 55 million years ago may have helped mammals dominate the Earth. It could have triggered a rapid phase of global warming linked to the expansion of mammal groups during the Eocene time period. Writing in the journal Science, a team of American researchers outlines new evidence for the theory. They found spherical fragments of glass thought to form when molten debris flung out by an impact solidifies in mid-air. But the team's interpretation remains controversial with other experts. Space impacts have had profound effects on Earth's ecosystems. For example, an asteroid which slammed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. Dennis Kent, from Rutgers University, a co-author of the new study, thinks the glass found in sediment cores drilled along the New Jersey coast could have come from a 10km-wide comet slamming into the Atlantic Ocean. This could be behind the mysterious release of CO2, and other greenhouse gases, which warmed the planet very rapidly 55.6 million years ago. During this event, global temperatures rose by about 6C in less than 1,000 years. "It got warm in a hurry. This suggests where it came from," said Prof Kent. The warm period, known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), is often compared to today's rapid human-induced climate change. It is recorded as an injection of an "isotopically light" form of the element carbon into the Earth's system.