探索恐龍滅絕的十大理論(下)

ges in Water Levels

5.海平面變化說

There have been five mass extinctions in Earth's history. A professor of geology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison believes that there's one culprit responsible for All five — change in sea levels. Since Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago, it's been constantly changing. As a result, land masses and oceans have evolved quite a bit. And any time a mass extinction happened, it's correlated with a change in sea levels. While ocean life would have been affected the most, creatures on land would have been devastated as well. In some areas there would have been massive flooding. On a global scale, ocean cycles would have changed radically and drastically affected the environments where land creatures would have lived, ate and drank.

在地球演變史上，有五次大規模的物種滅絕。威斯康辛麥迪遜大學的地質學教授認爲，在這五次大滅絕中，罪魁禍首就是海平面的改變。從454萬年前地球形成至今，海平面就一直在不斷的變化，從而導致大陸和海洋產生了很大的演變。每一次大滅絕發生，都和海平面的改變有關。儘管在每一次的大滅絕中，海洋生物受到的影響都最大，但陸地上的物種也會受到大規模的毀滅。在某些地區，當海平面改變時，會發生很大的洪水。放眼全球，海平面的改變會從根本上改變海洋循環，並會極大地影響到那些在陸地上棲息的物種。

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4.病毒侵入說

From looking at mosquitoes and ticks stuck in amber, Dr. George Poinar from Oregon State University said that germs started to emerge at the same time the dinosaurs were dying out, and it's possible the mighty dinosaurs were brought down by a microscopic plague.

通過研究蚊子和扁蝨的琥珀標本，來自俄勒岡州立大學的喬治皮奧納教授表明，細菌出現之時恐龍正處於瀕臨滅絕的時期，他認爲很有可能是一場細菌瘟疫導致了這些龐大恐龍的消失。

Disease would have been devastating to dinosaurs, because they wouldn't have built up an immune system and they bred very slowly. Bugs would have simply transferred the disease to all the dinosaurs until they were wiped out, but mammals were able to survive simply because the diseases didn't affect them.

疾病的流行導致了恐龍的毀滅，其原因是恐龍不具有免疫系統且繁殖速度非常慢。寄生蟲將病毒傳播給恐龍，導致了它們的滅絕，然而同時期的哺乳動物卻存活下來的原因就是它們不受疾病的影響。

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3.彗星撞擊說

A theory that stretches back to 1980 is that the death of the dinosaurs was caused by a different kind of impact event — one created by a comet. A comet is made up of ice, dust, rocky materials and organic compounds, while asteroids are usually made up of metal and rock. Comets are also smaller, and move a lot faster.

追溯到1980年，當時流行着一個關於恐龍滅絕的理論，即恐龍的滅絕是由於受到各種行星的撞擊，其中影響最大的就是彗星的撞擊。彗星主要是由鬆散的冰質、塵埃、小岩石和各種有機物組成，而行星則是由金屬和岩石組成。此外，彗星的飛行速度更快，體積也更小。

Detractors say that a comet wouldn't have been big enough to cause the Chicxulub crater. However, researchers said that if the comet was moving fast enough, it could have caused a crater of that size. Not only that, but it would have sent more dust and debris into the air than an asteroid. The end result would have been the same either way, but it's still a question worth debating.

反對者認爲，彗星並沒有大到可以撞擊地球繼而造成希克蘇魯伯隕石坑。然而研究人員指出，只要彗星的飛行速度足夠快，就可以撞擊出同等大小的隕石坑。不僅如此，同小行星相比，彗星撞擊會噴發更多的暗物質和殘骸到大氣層。雖然，不論哪種方式，最終結果都相同，但這仍然是一個值得探討的問題。

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2.火山爆發說

The most metal theory on our list is that a volcanic region known as the Deccan Traps, located in what is now India, erupted. The eruption would have spewed out sulfur into the air for 10,000 years — 10 times the emissions put into the air by an asteroid. This would have caused incredible global warming and the acidification of the oceans.

位於印度的德干玄武岩地區的火山爆發是本列表中最能說服人的。伴隨這次火山爆發而來的硫足以在大氣中瀰漫一萬年，這相當於10次小行星撞擊。因而產生了驚人的溫室效應和海水酸化。

This decades old theory was given more credence in 2009, when oil companies drilling below the ocean surface off the east coast of India found eons old lava filled sediments. They analyzed the sediment and found fossils from the time of the K-Pg extinction.

2009年，這個數十年的舊理論被增添了更多佐證。在印度東海岸進行石油鑽探時，有一家石油公司發現了億萬年之久的火山岩沉積物。經過分析，他們認爲這些火山岩沉積物形成於白堊紀末期。

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1.綜合原因說

Many of the events listed here could have come together within a relatively short time span. While researchers debate what exactly was the culprit, they don't deny that these other cataclysmic events could have happened as well. For example, there's evidence of an asteroid or comet hitting the Earth and volcanic eruptions happening around the same time. Also, if an asteroid did hit the Earth, hypercanes and firestorms could have started. If there were survivors, disease and changes in sea level would have been devastating, and they might not have been able to compete against mammals. With so many things going wrong in such a short period of time, these small-brained creatures were simply overwhelmed by devastation.

以上列舉的這一系列事件在同一時期內的共同作用很可能也是導致恐龍滅絕的原因。科學家們在討論最可能導致恐龍滅絕的原因時，並沒有否定其他可能同時發生的災難性事件。比如，某一次的行星撞擊和火山爆發就很可能是同時發生的。一旦地球與小行星發生碰撞，超級颶風和火焰風暴也會隨之發生。即便經歷過這一切的恐龍還能撿回一條命，但它們還是會被海平面的變化以及疾病所毀滅，亦或是敗於同哺乳動物的生存競爭中。伴隨着如此多的災難，小腦袋的恐龍們就這樣脆弱地在短時期內滅絕了。

翻譯:省略君 來源:前十網