Scientists identify freezing times for Cretaceous dinosaurs
Scientists studying fossils and minerals from Arctic Svalbard in Norway have discovered evidence that the ‘greenhouse’ climate of the Cretaceous period was punctuated by a sudden drop in global temperatures.
The drop is estimated to have occurred some 137 million years ago during a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and would have seen the islands fall from an average of 13 degrees centigrade (ocean temperature) to as low as four degrees.
Despite being located in the Arctic Circle Svalbard was home to numerous species of dinosaur and was typically characterised by warm shallow seas and swamps.
The research team led by Dr Gregory Price of the University of Plymouth found evidence in fossils and carbonate materials preserved in marine rocks in the region of a transient shift to cooler glacial conditions around 137 million years ago.
“This research suggests that for short periods of time the Earth plunged back to colder temperatures which poses interesting questions in terms of the nature of climate change.”
“Over a period of a few hundred or a few thousand years ocean temperatures fell from an average of 13 degrees centigrade to between eight and four degrees.