Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the KT Boundary. Across the entire planet, where it hasn't been eroded or destroyed in land movements, there is a thin grey line. In Italy it is 1 cm thick, in America it stretches to three centimetres, but it is all the same thin grey line laid into the rock some 65 million years ago and it bears witness to a cataclysmic event experienced only once in Earth's history. It is called the KT Boundary and geologists believe it is the clue to the death of the dinosaurs and the ultimate reason why mammals and humans inherited the Earth.But exactly what did happen 65 million years ago? How was this extraordinary line created across the Earth and does it really hold the key to the death of the dinosaurs?With Simon Kelley, Head of Department in the Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Jane Francis, Professor of Palaeoclimatology, University of Leeds; Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:47.2 | Hello across the entire planet where it hasn't been eroded or destroyed in |
| 0:51.8 | land movements there's a thin gray line of clay. |
| 0:55.4 | In Italy it's 1 centimeter thick, in Central America it stretches to 3 centimeters. |
| 1:01.0 | But it's all the same thin gray line, laid into the rock some 65 million |
| 1:05.0 | years ago and very likely it bears witness to a cataclysmic event experienced very |
| 1:10.0 | rarely in Earth's history. It's called the K T |
| 1:12.9 | boundary and geologists believe it's the clue to death of the |
| 1:16.2 | dinosaurs and the key reason why mammals and humans inherited the Earth. |
| 1:20.3 | But exactly what did happen 65 million years ago. |
| 1:23.0 | How is this extraordinary timeline the K.T. Boundary created across the Earth? |
| 1:27.0 | With me to discuss the boundary is Simon Kelly, head of Department of Earth Sciences at the Open University. |
| 1:32.0 | Jane Francis, Professor of Paleoclymatology at the University of Leeds, and Mike Benton, |
| 1:37.0 | professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. |
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