The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs – Gerta Keller

BOOK REVIEW by Nancy Pearlman

Is the theory that an asteroid caused the dinosaur extinction valid? Not so if you read The Last Extinction: the Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaur by Professor Emeritus Gerta Keller who taught Paleontology and Geology for decades in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. She has placed over 260 scientific publications in international journals and is considered a leading authority on catastrophes, mass extinctions, and the biotic and environmental effects of impacts and volcanism. As Pantheists we are concerned about species extinction and it is advisable for us to know how such extinctions have occurred. 

Currently climate change is causing tremendous loss of life but in the past there have been other reasons.  In her superb book written for the general public, she shows how her discoveries prove that the extinction-by-asteroid-impact theory was buoyed by the discovery of a 110-mile impact crater entered in Chicxulub, Mexico. But Keller’s discoveries in sedimentary and fossil records proved what really wiped out the dinosaurs was greenhouse gases from volcanic eruptions in west-central India. She sparked the “Dinosaur Wars” which was a contentious debate over what triggered the fifth mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Era, sixty-six million years ago. 

She explains that on India’s Deccan Plateau, hot lava flows spanned over 1000km from volcanic mountains and that those eruptions, due to extreme temperature heights, killed all but one of the planktic forams (alongside many other species). She also shares stories of her earlier work from Tunisia, Israel, and Egypt. In the book she explains the discoveries but also the betrayal and sabotage of her findings, the sexism at professional conferences and in scientific peer-reviewed publications where her presentations and articles were not accepted and the fact that scientists were not inclined to change their opinions. We, as Pantheists, should be open to new information that may help us better understand and appreciate our natural world and former life on this planet.

You can hear my interview with Gerta on YouTube: Environmental Directions with Nancy Pearlman, show number 2471: https://youtu.be/C7UYXttaYgo?si=wdQof6z-UvsMeLjr