It wasn't just an asteroid come down from the heavens to destroy
the former masters of the planet. No. Our Earth Mother knew
their time had come, and unleashed oceans of lava to scorch the
lands that dinosaurs once roamed. At least, that's what a few
daring scientists want to argue. Matthew Jackson and his team at
Boston University believe that the Earth's largest extinctions
can be traced back to massive eruptions originating from two
unusually hot spots in the mantle. These sporadic eruptions
result seas of magma that span 100,000 square miles. Jackson has
studied the regions these flows leave behind, called large
igneous provinces, and claims to have proof that the mineral
signatures inside these LIPS date back to around when the
dinosaurs died off. The researchers agree that their findings
are indeed controversial, and that more work needs to be done.
I'm personally excited, saddened, and terrified all at once. For
one, if you have to go, that's a pretty epic way to go. Then
again, to see an ocean of lava