Dinosaurs on Venus!
Ken Raines
 Dinosaurs being transported to Venus' suffocating heat. (Artwork: Ken Raines) |
Since the discovery of their fossilized remains over 150 years ago dinosaurs have fascinated scientists and the man-on-the-street alike. A major controversy that has persisted surrounds their sudden disappearance. All the dinosaurs disappeared suddenly from the fossil record about 65 million years ago as estimated by paleontologists and geologists. What happened to them? Why did they all become extinct in a brief span of geological time?
Many have proposed serious and not so serious explanations. Today, the most commonly accepted hypothesis among scientists is the asteroid theory. This holds that a large comet or asteroid impacted the earth 65 million years ago.1 This caused an enormous cloud of dust, etc. to envelop the earth disrupting photosynthesis causing vegetation to die and become extinct. This in turn caused plant eating animals to die, which in turn killed off their predators. Very few organisms survived.
At first, most scientists didn't accept the theory as it was a "Catastrophism" theory as opposed to the "Gradualism" that Darwin's theory required for the extinction of species. Samples of the geological strata at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary around the world showed unusually high levels of Iridium which is an element common in asteroids and the interior of the earth, but not on its surface. Some took this evidence as supporting the theory.2
Some scientists argued that the Iridium could have been from a large number of volcanoes erupting around the world over time that projected the material from the earth's interior around the globe.
The asteroid theory may seem fantastic, but more recent investigations have demonstrated that in addition to Iridium, other platinum-group elements common in asteroids and comets but not common in volcanic eruptions have been found in the K/T boundary. Also "shocked quartz" has been found in this K/T clay layer. (The high pressures of a sudden impact like one caused by a meteorite collision is thought to be the source of the shocked quartz). This discovery lead to a search for the actual impact site which would have the highest levels of the quartz surrounding it. This was found to be highest in the Caribbean. Tektites (small meteorite fragments) were also found throughout the Caribbean.
Evidence of a large and sudden change in the "strontium isotope" ratio of sea water at the K/T boundary has aslo been reported. This has been explained as the result of highly acidic (acid) rain caused by a shock heating of the atmosphere, which could have been caused by a large comet or asteroid.3 More evidence indicated that the impact occurred in the ocean near a shore somewhere in the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico. What appears to be tidal wave produced debris deposits have been found in the area. The focal point of this is located off the shores of the Yucatan Peninsula. A search of this area did turn up evidence of a 100 mile in diameter crater estimated to be within 5 million years of the K/T boundary.
This has lead to a further acceptance of the asteroid theory first proposed by Luis Alvarez and the decline of the volcano theory.4
However, others have come up with their own ideas. My wife's favorite is the Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon with the caption, 'the real reason dinosaurs became extinct.' It shows several dinos smoking cigarettes.5 My favorite though is the one alluded to by The Golden Age magazine. Yes, the Watchtower Society had its own theory long before the asteroid or cigarette theories. It appeared, appropriately, in The Golden Age of April 1, 1931 on page 428.6 In describing the planets of the Solar System they mention Venus by saying:
"It will be very apparent to readers of Judge Rutherford's book Creation that the present condition of Venus is about what the earth was prior to the Flood, and it is significant that some astronomers have advanced the idea that animals like the dinosaurs that once roamed this planet are now finding Venus a happy place in which to live."
Say what? Dinosaurs "are now finding Venus a happy place to live"? What on earth, or in this case Venus, are they talking about? Did they really believe that the dinosaurs actually left earth before the Flood and were transported (via spaceships?) to Venus where they are now "happy"? Was the Ark too small for them so the Pleiadian god by the name of Jehovah (no last name) drove a flying saucer and transported them to Venus? And just who were the "astronomers" who proposed that hypothesis? Isaac Vail? I have never heard of this theory.7
Notes
1 Hugh Ross, "Dinosaurs' Disappearance No Longer A Mystery", Facts and Faith Newsletter, Vol. 5, #3, Fall, 1991, pp. 1-3.
2 Ibid., p. 2.
3 Martin Palmer, "Acid Rain at the K/T Boundary," Nature, vol. 352 (1991), p. 758; E. E. Martin, and J. D. Macdougall, Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters, vol. 104 (1991), pp. 166-180. Cited by Ross.
4 Ross, pp. 2, 3.
5 Gary Larson, The Far Side Gallery, Andrews, McMeel & Parker, 1984.
6 There are so many bizarre and clearly false statements, prophecies, and claims made by the Society in their publications through the years that are printed with an April 1st date on them ('April Fools Day' here in the United States) that I am almost tempted to think they are an April Fools Day joke. Almost.
7 I reviewed several books in my library on the earth and solar system such as: Earthlike Planets, Surfaces of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars by Murry, Malin, and Greeley; The Realm of the Terrestial Planets by Zdenek Kopal; Planetary Geology by Guest, Butterworth, Murray and O'Donnell, and Planetary Landscapes by Greeley and didn't find anything. I have in the past been interested in the subject of the solar system, read many books, but have never read of this idea.
