week 3 RJA

Research Topic Exploration

                While exploring my topic, I discovered that there were many more sub topics than I thought. Many scientists actually doubt the idea that the dinosaur extinction was one catastrophic event. Mass extinction has happened a few times in history and could have actually happened over a period of millions of years. If evolution does not occur, species will die off. Many scientists debate the different ideas of extinction, including the scientists at University of California at Berkeley who originally proposed different theories of the extinction. The evidence discovered by archaeologists lead scientists to discuss the ideas of asteroids, volcanoes, disease and climate change, although there are many more theories. The topic of the dinosaur extinction is much more involved than I originally thought.

Research Topic Focus

                I believe that my ideas are still going to focus on the four major theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs which are asteroids, volcanoes, disease and climate change. After the little amount of research I have done, I am beginning to believe that it might have been a combination of all of these things. If you ask most people the two major theories are asteroids and volcanoes. My issue with these ideas is the lack of evidence to support one catastrophic event causing the extinction of 70% of the life on the planet. This was not the first major extinction. Previous to this there was an extinction that caused the loss of 90% of the life on this planet. Is it possible that both of these extinctions could have been caused by the same things? Could it happen to us? These are the questions that need to be answered by the scientific investigation.

Research Question

What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

When did this happen and was it a catastrophic event or a process of time?

Why did it happen (overpopulation, weather, etc.)?

Would this have happened under different circumstances?

If this was caused by a major catastrophic event, where did it happen?

How did the environment impact the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Who originally proposed the different theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs?