2022 Articles
Arctic ice and the ecological rise of the dinosaurs
Abundant lake ice-rafted debris in Late Triassic and earliest Jurassic strata of the Junggar Basin of northwestern China (paleolatitude ~71°N) indicates that freezing winter temperatures typified the forested Arctic, despite a persistence of extremely high levels of atmospheric Pco2 (partial pressure of CO2). Phylogenetic bracket analysis shows that non-avian dinosaurs were primitively insulated, enabling them to access rich deciduous and evergreen Arctic vegetation, even under freezing winter conditions. Transient but intense volcanic winters associated with massive eruptions and lowered light levels led to the end-Triassic mass extinction (201.6 Ma) on land, decimating all medium- to large-sized nondinosaurian, noninsulated continental reptiles. In contrast, insulated dinosaurs were already well adapted to cold temperatures, and not only survived but also underwent a rapid adaptive radiation and ecological expansion in the Jurassic, taking over regions formerly dominated by large noninsulated reptiles.
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Files
- Olsen+2022.pdf application/pdf 771 KB Download File
Also Published In
- Title
- Science Advances
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo6342
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
- Biology and Paleo Environment
- Published Here
- September 2, 2022