Researchers say they have discovered fossils that registered the moments immediately after the impact caused by the fall of an asteroid on Earth, 66 million years ago. This supposedly caused the extinction of the majority of dinosaurs. The news was published in the American scientific magazine PNAS in the beginning of April.

The asteroid struck a site in North Dakota, in the United States, which “presents an ‘instant image’ post-impact”, say scientists led by Robert DePalma, a palaeontologist from the University of Kansas, in the USA.

Fish fossils are some of the evidence for the theory. At a certain moment, the asteroid ruptured and scattered into a billion pieces. These pieces would have fallen in the water and were in the fish – according to fossil analysis carried out by researchers.

Experts who did not take part in the research said that they plan to analyse the hypotheses more in-depth before assuming it is true.

What are fossils?
They are remains of animals, plants, or other beings that are preserved in rocks.

How did the dinosaurs die?
Two of the theories say that:

– A large asteroid fell on Earth and created a devastating explosion. The after-effects killed 80% of life on Earth.

– The climate on Earth went through several changes throughout the years. These changes would have led several species to extinction.

QUESTIONS

1) Why does the text mention fish fossils?
a) To provide an example of how researchers came to their conclusions about the research that was carried out.
b) To show that fish have existed since the age of dinosaurs.
c) To show that fish are fragile animals.
d) To prove that dinosaurs and fish lived at the same time.

2) Which theory about the extinction of dinosaurs do you think is most accurate? Why?

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