when dinosaurs were snuffed out of existence.

當恐龍被扼殺的存在。

It's been told that an asteroid more than 10-kilometers across slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula,

據悉，一顆直徑超過10公里的小行星撞上了尤卡坦半島。

putting an end to the dinosaur's long reign.

結束了恐龍的長期統治。

But the actual 'cause of death' has been the center of a decades-long raging controversy.

但實際的 "死因 "一直是長達幾十年的激烈爭論的中心。

Many scientists have argued for alternative theories to explain what brought on the dinosaur's final days,

許多科學家都主張用其他理論來解釋是什麼帶來了恐龍的最後時光。

including cosmic rays, an outbreak of disease, or as we previously reported,

包括宇宙射線，疾病的爆發，或者像我們之前報道的那樣。

an inferno of blazing wildfires.

燃燒的野火的地獄。

But thanks to this recently published study in Science,

但由於最近在《科學》上發表的這項研究。

we may have finally learned the truth behind what killed them.

我們可能終於知道了殺害他們的真相。

Aside from the asteroid, there is another competing theory involving massive volcanic eruptions

除了小行星，還有另一種競爭性的理論，涉及大規模的火山噴發。

that happened around the same time,

發生在同一時間。

leading to some confusion over which is the actual culprit.

導致對哪一個是真正的罪魁禍首產生了一些困惑。

Over 500,000 cubic kilometers of lava welled up from the ground

超過50萬立方公里的熔岩從地下湧出。

and spread across much of what is now India—

遍佈現在印度的大部分地區。

a volume larger than twenty times all of the Great Lakes combined.

比所有五大湖區加起來的二十倍還要大。

This created enormous deposits of igneous rock, now known as the Deccan Traps.

這就造成了巨大的火成岩沉積，現在被稱為德干陷阱。

Along with the lava, the eruptions released carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere,

隨著熔岩的噴發，火山噴發向大氣中釋放了二氧化碳和其他氣體。

driving global temperature changes thought by some

一些人認為是全球氣溫變化的原因

to have contributed to the extinction of ¾ of the world's species at the end of the Cretaceous period.

導致了白堊紀末期世界上四分之三物種的滅絕。

Vital clues to answering this prehistoric puzzle were found in sediment cores,

在沉積物巖芯中發現瞭解答這個史前難題的重要線索。

like the ones collected in 2012 by the research vessel JOIDES Resolution,

如2012年 "JOIDES Resolution "號科考船收集的。

as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).

作為國際海洋發現計劃（IODP）的一部分。

The cores may not have looked like much,

核心可能看起來並不像什麼。

but combined they held more than 40 million years of ancient climate history,

但它們合計擁有4000多萬年的古氣候史。

including a band of rock known as the K-T or K/Pg Boundary,

包括一支被稱為K-T或K/Pg Boundary的搖滾樂隊。

which clearly shows the impact of the asteroid.

它清楚地顯示了小行星的撞擊。

On one side of the boundary we find the Cretaceous period,

在邊界的一側，我們發現了白堊紀時期。

where dinosaurs were busy living large.

在那裡，恐龍正忙於生活大。

On the other, we find the Paleogene, where poof…

另一方面，我們發現古生代，在那裡，噗...

the dinosaur party had come to an abrupt end.

恐龍黨已經戛然而止。

Despite this, “Team Volcano” has argued that all four prior mass extinctions

儘管如此，"火山團隊 "還是認為，之前的四次大滅絕都是

can also be explained by volcanic activity.

也可以用火山活動來解釋。

And that asteroids have pummeled the planet before and life kept on moving.

而且小行星之前也曾撞擊過地球，生命一直在前進。

In 2019, researchers were finally able to use the deep-sea sediment cores

2019年，研究人員終於能夠利用深海沉積物核心。

collected from the 2012 expedition to settle the argument.

從2012年的考察中收集到的，以解決爭論。

They modeled several scenarios, varying the timings of the Deccan Traps eruptions

他們模擬了幾種情況，改變了德干陷阱噴發的時間。

to see how the gases might have affected the climate.

以瞭解這些氣體如何影響氣候。

They compared the modeled temperature changes to the global temperature data recorded in the cores

他們將模擬的溫度變化與巖芯中記錄的全球溫度數據進行了比較。

to see if any of these scenarios lined-up with the mass extinction better than the asteroid impact.

看看這些情況中是否有比小行星撞擊更好的大規模滅絕的情況。

In one of the hypothetical scenarios,

在其中一個假設的情況下。

researchers placed the bulk of the eruptions a couple hundred thousand years before the K/Pg boundary.

研究人員將火山爆發的大部分放在K/PG邊界前幾十萬年。

This model lined-up with a temporary 2 degree rise in the temperature record,

這種模式排隊的溫度記錄暫時上升了2度。

but since the temperature returned to normal before the asteroid impact,

但由於在小行星撞擊前，溫度恢復正常。

the Deccan Traps eruptions did not coincide with the extinction.

德干陷阱的噴發並不是與滅絕同時發生的。

In the second scenario, the eruptions were split evenly before and after the asteroid impact,

在第二種情況下，小行星撞擊前後的噴發是平分秋色的。

but the volcanic disruptions that took place after the K/Pg boundary didn't significantly alter the climate,

但K/PG邊界後發生的火山破壞並沒有顯著改變氣候。

which was… strange.

這是... 奇怪的。

Researchers found that a lack of global warming after a major burp of carbon dioxide

研究人員發現，在二氧化碳大打嗝後，全球變暖的情況下，缺

could be explained by the extinction of tiny single-celled marine creatures called foraminifera or forams.

可以解釋為被稱為有孔蟲或有孔蟲的微小單細胞海洋生物的滅絕。

In a process called the carbon cycle,

在一個叫做碳循環的過程中。

the ocean dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,

海洋溶解了大氣中的二氧化碳。

where forams capture the carbon from it to build their shells.

蛤蟆從中捕捉碳來建造它們的外殼。

When forams die, they sink, and the carbon trapped in their shells is deposited on the ocean floor,

當岩漿死亡時，它們會下沉，被困在殼中的碳會沉積在海底。

moving it along to the next stage in the carbon cycle.

將其轉移到碳循環的下一階段。

But after the K/Pg boundary, the forams are nearly wiped out of existence.

但在K/Pg邊界之後，公羊幾乎被消滅殆盡。

Without forams to move carbon, the oceans may have absorbed large amounts of volcanic carbon dioxide,

如果沒有岩漿移動碳，海洋可能已經吸收了大量的火山二氧化碳。

limiting its effect on climate.

限制其對氣候的影響。

This new research produced a definitive timeline that likely ends the decades-old argument

這項新的研究產生了一個明確的時間線，很可能結束了幾十年來的爭論。

that was often as heated as the volcanos themselves.

往往和火山本身一樣熱烈。

It also establishes that the Deccan Traps eruptions alone could not have caused the extinction,

這也確定了僅靠德干陷阱的噴發不可能造成滅絕。

proving it was the impact that wiped out the dinos.

證明是撞擊消滅了恐龍。

Other extinctions seem to have happened over hundreds of thousands of years,

其他的滅絕似乎是在幾十萬年內發生的。

but what happened at the K/Pg boundary looks like it took just a few hundred.

但發生在K/PG邊界的事情，看起來只需要幾百塊錢。

Regardless of whether we're talking about volcanos or asteroids,

無論我們談論的是火山還是小行星。

both fill the air with carbon dioxide, ash, and noxious gases,

都使空氣中充滿了二氧化碳、灰燼和有毒氣體。

just like humans are doing now by burning fossil fuels.

就像人類現在燃燒化石燃料一樣。

Someday, a newly-reigning species could be examining fossils of us.

有一天，一個新的統治物種可能會檢查我們的化石。

That's why getting a detailed picture of extinctions past with research like this is so important...

這就是為什麼通過這樣的研究獲得過去滅絕的詳細情況是如此重要... ...

to get to the CORE of the matter of life and death on Earth.

來了解地球上生死問題的核心。

Dinos may have not survived the K/Pg event, but you know what did?

Dinos可能沒有在K/PG事件中倖存下來，但你知道什麼倖存下來了嗎？

The Wonderchicken!

神奇雞！

Learn more about it check out this episode here.

瞭解更多關於它的資訊請看這裡的這一集。

And if you have any prehistoric science you want us to cover, let us know down in the comments.

如果你有什麼想讓我們報道的史前科學，請在評論中告訴我們。

Make sure to subscribe to Seeker and thanks so much for watching.

請一定要訂閱《探索者》，非常感謝您的觀看。