Dinosaur mass extinction may have been triggered by acid rain
Asteroid impact could have produced enough sulfur trioxide to dramatically lower ocean pH
Around 65 million years ago, 71–81% of all species on Earth – including land dinosaurs – were wiped out following an asteroid impact in Southeastern Mexico. Now, Japanese scientists have carried out the most realistic laboratory simulations of the impact to date and found the extinction may have been down to acid rain, triggered by the release of sulfur trioxide when the asteroid slammed into sulfur-rich rocks.