Are dinosaurs related to global warming?

What can dinosaurs from the past tell us about global warming in the future?

Whether you believe in creation, evolution, or something else entirely, most people will tell you that they believe at one time dinosaurs existed. And that they became extinct. The theories around what caused this extinction vary, but the end result was the same: no more dinosaurs.

What do extinct dinosaurs have to do with global warming?

I’m glad you asked. For the time being, let’s just assume any theory brought up in this article is true while we are talking about it. I won’t be arguing for what theories are most plausible, I’m just looking for the common thread that could tie the extinction of dinosaurs to global warming. If this thread is true, it could also give insight to future events, as well as give insight to the true nature of the Earth as we know it.

That’s a bold claim.

For this article, I will only be talking about 2 commonly held theories about how the dinosaurs became extinct: asteroid and global flood. I’ll discuss how each could have lead to a similar result, and how each could explain the possibility of global warming.

These are far from the only theories regarding dinosaurs or global warming. There are also many theories as to why the future might be different. But if there is any truth to the thread that ties these two together, it will lead to a single, logical outcome. Dinosaurs are coming back. This outcome is widely credited as being originally predicted by John C. in 1990, but was brought to the attention of the larger community by Allan S. three years later.

Reptiles vs. mammals

Before we get into that, we need to understand a key difference between reptiles and mammals that will come into play for all of these theories. Reptiles do not produce their own body heat the same way that mammals do. They require heat from the sun and/or surroundings to warm their blood. The external heat helps them move around and do things. Without it, they can be slow, sluggish, or unable to move properly.

The bigger the reptile, the more heat is needed to warm their blood. Today, you’ll notice that the biggest reptiles on Earth tend to be in some of the warmest places. Alligators, crocodiles, komodo dragons, etc. Reptiles, especially large reptiles, rarely thrive in cold-weather environments, and in seasonal climates will normally sleep through the winter, similar to some mammals.

When a reptile cannot get enough heat, they have trouble moving and hunting properly. This will lead to them missing meals, and becoming weaker, making it even harder to hunt. This cycle can lead to starvation if it continues.

Now on to the theories…

Extinction via asteroid

For the moment, we will assume that an asteroid is the reason dinosaurs no longer exist. We will run through a couple scenarios that could fit the thread.

Dust and ash

A sufficiently large meteor impact in the right place could have caused an enormous cloud of dust to go billowing into the air. It may also be capable of setting off a chain reaction of volcanic eruptions, releasing even more dust and ash into the atmosphere. The dust an ash would reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the planet for a period of time. If long enough, this could cause the temperature of the planet itself to lower.

This lower temperature could lead to extra ice being formed in Earths poles. Water naturally absorbs heat from the sun, and ice naturally reflects away heat from the sun. With less sunlight leading to cooler oceans, and more ice reflecting away more heat, it could have caused a chain reaction that caused the Earth to cool down, and enter an ice age.

With the lowering temperatures and less sunlight, reptiles would have had a harder time heating up their blood. The less sunlight could have also impacted plant growth. All of these factors would have lead to the slow demise of many reptiles. The biggest reptiles would feel the biggest impact the most quickly due to how much heat they need to warm their blood.

Massive evaporation

If a meteor landed in the ocean, the heat could cause tons of water to instantly turn into vapor and evaporate into the atmosphere. Again, the meteor could have caused a chain reaction of volcanic eruptions, but this time eruptions in the water. The volcanic activity would also lead to a tremendous amount of evaporated water vapor releasing into the atmosphere.

All of this extra water vapor could then spread around the Earth. In warmer places, it would come down as extra rain. But in colder places, it could come back down as extra snow. If there was enough water vapor in the air, and enough of it made it to the Earth’s poles, there could have been and extreme amount of extra snowfall, leading to a much larger covering of snow and ice at the poles.

With snow and ice reflecting away heat from the sun, it could have caused a chain reaction that caused the ice to continue to expand, while simultaneously reflecting more heat away as it grew. This cycle could lead to the Earth’s temperature lowering, leading to the same kind of results for reptiles as it slipped into an ice age.

Global Flood

Now, for the moment, we will assume that a global flood is the reason dinosaurs no longer exist. This explanation could also fit the thread.

If there was a global flood, and the entire Earth was covered in water, then the same interaction with water and ice would take place as previously discussed. Water absorbs heat. So if the whole planet was water, it would start absorbing lots of heat from the Sun. As it warmed up, it would then start to evaporate into the atmosphere. The increased amount of heat being absorbed would also speed up the evaporation process, leading to a tremendous amount of vapor being sent into the atmosphere.

As the water vapor entered cooler areas, it would start coming back down as precipitation. This would also happen in Earths poles. With the constant, enormous amount of evaporation occurring all over the globe, the vapor entering Earth’s poles could turn into seemingly never-ending snow fall. This would continue until all the extra water had evaporated from the Earth. Things had “evened out,” the amount of snow and ice around the poles would be tremendous.

This would then result in the reverse effect. When the world was all water, it absorbed heat very efficiently. When the snow and ice around the poles covered such a large area, it would reflect away heat from the sun. The Earth would slowly start to cool down, and the cycle would continue until the dinosaurs were gone and we entered into an ice age.

So even if this may explain the dinosaur’s extinction, what does it have to do with global warming?

The ice age is another commonly held belief across many different people, cultures, and religions. A time when the Earth was cooler and covered more by snow and ice than it is today. It also makes sense why mammals would have become more prevalent than reptiles, since there is a major advantage in being able to generate your own body heat.

Since we are no longer in an ice age, it stands to reason that the cycle that lead to the ice age eventually puttered out, and slowly regressed back to what we are familiar with today. But does that mean the Earth is back to normal?

Are the predictions true?

If the Earth used to be warm enough to widely support enormous reptiles, does that mean that the natural state of the Earth is much warmer? If a cataclysmic event caused the ice age, could we just be in a large transitional period between the ice age and what the Earth used to be like?

And if this is the case, the Jurassic prediction originally brought to our attention by John C. and Allan S., more commonly known as John Michael Crichton and Steven Allan Speilberg, may end up true. Life finds a way. Dinosaurs, like Thanos, are inevitable.

Or maybe not. After all, these are merely theories.