A recently published study shares the latest evidence about what killed the dinosaurs .

Two geologists Brenhin Keller and Alexander Cox from Dartmouth College (USA) have developed a new method to conclude that the cause of dinosaur extinction was toxic gas.

Most studies on this issue start with the assumption that the mass extinction 66 million years ago was caused by an asteroid hitting Earth or a volcanic eruption.

New research suggests that the cause of dinosaur extinction was toxic gas.

Geologists Keller and Cox used computer modeling to make the calculations. For input data, they looked at cylindrical sediment cores drilled from deep below the ocean.

Those layers of soil, microorganisms called foraminifera , give clues about the ocean’s acidity over time as well as the amount of carbon and sulfur dioxide in the environment.

These two gases are believed to have played a role in the extinction that killed the dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.

However, scientists debate whether they were released by an asteroid strike or a series of volcanic eruptions.

Geologists Keller and Cox simulated different scenarios, using a Markov chain Monte Carlo statistical model to calculate probabilities based on the evidence obtained.

They discovered that gases released from volcanoes were a complete explanation for the environmental changes that led to the demise of the dinosaurs.

Meanwhile, an almost simultaneous asteroid strike, which left a large crater in the Gulf of Mexico, had little effect on the genocide.

In their modeling efforts, geologists Keller and Cox used dozens of computer processors in parallel. Done one after the other, their simulations took more than a year to execute. Meanwhile, because the models work simultaneously, data is collected within a few days.