評論
打印
Between ten million and three million years before the KT boundary,
在第三紀界線前1000萬年至300萬年間，
the dinosaurs seem to have suffered a dramatic decline.
恐龍的數量開始急劇下降。
One interpretation of the fossil record is that forty percent of dinosaur species went extinct.
化石記錄的一個解釋是40%的恐龍種類滅絕了。
And so we come up to about one to three million years before the end of the Cretaceous
我們翻看了白堊紀結束前300萬年至100萬年的地球歷史，
and we've got a group that seems to be vulnerable to any kind of extinction events that might be occurring at that time.
我們發現很多脆弱的因素很有可能因為這一時期發生的滅絕事件而遭到毀滅。
So it seems that by three million years before the impact, the dinosaurs were already in trouble.
由此看來在大碰撞發生前300萬年，恐龍已經在茍延殘喘。
The big question is what happened next?
問題是接下來發生了什么？
Did they stabilise or carry on dwindling?
它們的數量是穩定下來了，還是在繼續減少？
What is known is that their environment continued to worsen.
我們所知道的是，它們的環境仍在惡化。
For about half a million years before the KT boundary,
在第三紀界線之前的50萬年間，
the world suffered one of its most destructive periods of volcanism ever.
世界經歷了最具破壞性的火山活動時期。
Vast areas of land were ridden with eruptions.
大面積的土地被火山灰吞噬。
A million cubic kilometres of lava spewed out in what are known as the Deccan Traps.
在我們所熟悉的德干巖群火山活動中，就噴出了數百萬立方公里的熔巖。
