Magnesium and extinction of dinosaurs. Was magnesium deficit a major cause?
Chinese researchers have recently demonstrated that, before the extinction of dinosaurs, there was an impressive lowering in the magnesium concentration of fossil dinosaur eggshell. The structural and functional importance of eggshell magnesium--mainly in the cone layer--for embryonic viability and hatchability of oviparous species supports the hypothesis that magnesium deficit may have had a direct role in dinosaur extinction. Conversely this low magnesium concentration seems a questionable marker of magnesium deficit. The natural forces involved in the extinction of dinosaurs are more likely to induce magnesium depletion than magnesium deficiency. These very interesting preliminary data call for further research.
Durlach
J
J
D000818:Animals; D004528:Egg Shell / Q000737:chemistry*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D005580:Fossils; D008275:Magnesium Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D012104:Reptiles / Q000378:metabolism*