TOEFL Integrated Writing

📖 Reading Passage

The extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period has long been attributed to a massive asteroid impact. However, a closer examination of the fossil record and geological evidence suggests that volcanic activity, specifically the Deccan Traps in India, was the primary driver. Three main arguments support this volcanic hypothesis. First, the timing of the Deccan Traps eruptions coincides with the extinction event. Radiometric dating shows that the main phase of volcanic activity occurred around 66 million years ago, exactly when the dinosaurs disappeared. Second, volcanic emissions, including sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, would have caused severe climate change—acid rain, global cooling followed by warming—that could have disrupted ecosystems over thousands of years, a timescale more consistent with the gradual decline observed in dinosaur fossils. Third, the asteroid impact theory fails to explain why many species, such as crocodiles and birds, survived despite the hypothesized global catastrophe. In contrast, volcanic activity would have had a more selective impact, affecting large terrestrial animals like dinosaurs while sparing aquatic and burrowing species.

🎧 Listening Lecture

The lecture challenges the volcanic hypothesis presented in the reading. While the Deccan Traps eruptions were indeed massive, their timing does not precisely align with the extinction. High-resolution dating shows that the most intense phase of eruptions occurred about 250,000 years before the extinction, and a later, smaller pulse happened after. The extinction itself was abrupt, coinciding exactly with the Chicxulub asteroid impact, not with any spike in volcanic activity. Furthermore, the climate effects of volcanism were likely less severe than the reading suggests. Sulfur aerosols from the Deccan Traps may have caused brief cooling, but the overall temperature change was modest and gradual, allowing many species to adapt. The asteroid impact, however, produced a global fireball, tsunamis, and a dust cloud that blocked sunlight for months, causing a sudden collapse of photosynthesis and a rapid food chain breakdown. Finally, the survival of crocodiles and birds is not evidence against the impact. These groups had small body sizes, low metabolic rates, or aquatic habitats that buffered them from the worst effects, whereas large dinosaurs were more vulnerable. Thus, the impact theory remains the most plausible explanation.