Did a Rainy Spell Start Dinosaur Evolution?
THIS ARTICLE tells a rather charming story of how a chance encounter led to a theory that a wet period in the mostly dry Triassic (the Carnian) encouraged (or demanded) evolution. Some crinoids died. Corals became more modern, mammals may have appeared. And dinosaurs - a rather rare group - evolved into a diverse group.
The article has lots of detail - was the Wrangellian eruptions in western North America responsible for global warming which led to increased precipitation?
But now the Carnian is being intensively studied wherever it is found, including the Dolomites, which allows me to show one of my photos of a mountain with some red stuff - is that the Carnian?
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