At https://phys.org/news/2025-09-death-dinosaurs-reengineered-earth.html … The basics of the argument in this research paper is that the disappearance of the dinosaurs led to a re-engineering of the landscape of the Earth. Naturally, it is an idea fully in keeping with uniformitarian views of our past. One would have thought it was the asteroid strike that led to a re-engineering of the landscape – but no, it was all down to the dinosaurs munching on Jurassic vegetation that stopped the growth of forests, even though the vegetation at that time was also on a greater scale as opposed to their modern equivalents. The ferns, for example. However, we are informed the dinosaur extinction itself was to blame, leading to changes in river flow and extensive evidence of sea level changes. Not all of which were a rise in ocean level. Geological rock formations, we are told, catalogue how the changes are preserved in the sediments laid down, before and after the asteroid strike. Or, in this instance, before and after the dinosaurs became extinct.
According to the authors, once dinosaurs disappeared, forests suddenly sprouted – on what is now North America. Or, at least, the western half of North America. They looked at locations which seemed to reveal rapid geological changes. The assumption, of course, is that these sedimentary layers came about in a slow and gradual manner, rather than being laid down quickly as a result of the asteroid strike. The research, in particular, focussed on the Fort Union rock formation which is said to be composed of stacks of different coloured rock. Rather than seeing the stacks as water created – large sections of the sedimentary rock washed away by the ocean invading the land, we are told they represent the landscape in the aftermath of the dinosaur extinction. The striped Fort Union formation are not due to ponding but they formed inside the meander of a big river. Rather than still water, as in ponding, they represent a situation that is active – inside a river meander.
The formation was in stark contrast to the rocks underlying it, which seem to represent a water logged landscape. They thought this might be due to the outer edges of a floodplain, rather than the drying up of a once watery landscape. Expecting a connection with the asteroid strike, or at least the iridium layer associated with the switch from Cretaceous to Paleogene, they decided to look at the sediments both sides of that iridium marker. Keeping to the consensus geochronological framework it was necessary to view the striped layers as a slow process – hence, the idea it was due to a river meandering over a floodplain. However, these deposits were bracketed by layers largely composed of lignite. This is a low grade form of coal, extensively found in Germany, for example. Lignite originates from carbonised plant matter. These, it claims, formed as a result of the stabilising effect of dense forests – and rivers that flooded less frequently. In stabilising rivers you stem the supply of clay and sand and silt – and this is replaced, in a slow process, by organic debris. The nature of that debris is not disclosed in the article review but one can easily take a different view from their interpretation. The asteroid strike was a massive catastrophic event. The asteroid split into several pieces in the atmosphere and caused tidal waves on a global scale. What they were looking at are the sediments laid down as the water receded and was swallowed up by the ground. The lignite, or poor coal formation, was the vegetation swept up by the tidal waves and laid down in a series of separate layers, much like earlier episodes of coal formation caused seams to develop. One must wonder why mainstream geologists do not see that such an asteroid strike, and its attendant oceanic displacement, would not form sediments rapidly.
At https://phys.org/news/2025-09-small-asteroids-abruptly.html … some small asteroids, or meteors, break up as they enter the atmosphere. The researchers looked at a small asteroid that broke up over France in 2023. It exploded on atmospheric entry, Not surprising as it was chondritic.
At https://phys.org/news/2025-09-life-impact-discovery-links-microbial.html … life after impacts. Life discovered in an impact crater. Life survived the impact we are told and thrived in the aftermath. Microbial life, that is. The crater is dated to the Late Cretaceous – not long prior to the dinosaur killing asteroid strike. The crater is in Finland.