Tell us about the dinosaurs

[orogenicman]

[quote='Loki_999' pid='103447' dateline='1288867674']
Slightly on-topic, just read something interesting in an article (not published yet) where some Russian scientists have linked (they say proved... we will have to wait and see on that) the mass extinction events with the periodic magnetic polar inversions.

If right, it will give a partial reason... but why would this happen i have no idea, unless the reversal of the poles sends creatures mad. Still, we don't need to worry, the next one is not scheduled for something like another 80-100 million years...

Unless you are a god-botherer in which case you probably believe that the earth will not be around for that long because Gawd will end the world long before then.... for some evil reason that his worshippers think will be their reward. Go figure.

I've seen quite a few references to the coincidence of magnetic field inversions and Mass Extinction Events in the literature. I'm not sure in this case but many studies tend to link these reversals with periods of increased volcanic activty (related to the controversial issue of mantle plumes), or more specifically the occurence of Large Igneous Provinces such as the Siberian & Deccan Traps.

Very interesting area of the geosciences right now.

Sam


[/quote]

There have been published reports linking volcanic trends with magnetic reversals. As far as I know, none are unambiguously linked. As for when the next reversal will occur, they usually occur every several hundred thouand years or so. My understanding is that we may be overdue for the next one.

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[quote='orogenicman' pid='103400' dateline='1288833629']I might add that if you knew anything about publishing in such journals, then you would know how difficult it is to acheive publication regardless of your background. Even the most respected paleontologists have to wade through the backlog, and convince the peer reviewers of the validity of their arguments.

If it is this difficult then do you think the editors would even bother to consider articles which disagree with their opinions? If someone presented evidence against evolution they would be more likely to reject it without even checking its validity.

Personal opinion is not what drive the peer process. My first paper took 7 years to get published for several reasons:

1) We were describing 8 new fossil species and redescribing 4 previously discovered ones for which more information was available. It takes time to reach the amount of certainty required to ensure that they are, indeed, new species, and can then be published as such.

2) Once that review was completed, we had to go through the normal review process involving such mundane things as wording, spell checks, etc.

3) Once that was done, then we were put on a list of reports awaiting final publication. That list is usually rather long.

Secondly, your argument that the biblical "kinds" of animals included on Noah's ark refer to the Linean "family" classification is simply ludicrous since it assumes that tribal peoples of the Middle East some 4,000 years ago had any concept of such a classification,

God guided the choice of animals and he certainly knew how to classify them because he was the one who created them in the first place.

This is a convenient (and rather lazy) explanation, and doesn't explain the fact that there is no geologic evidence that such a global flood ever occurred.