It seemed there was no role left for the asteroid impact or impacts at all.
看起来小行星碰撞或者所有碰撞均没有产生任何影响。
The dinosaurs were doomed anyway:
恐龙命中注定是要灭绝的:
except there was still evidence of an environmental catastrophe at the KT boundary.
虽然第三纪界线层中依旧存在着环境灾难证据。
The awkward unavoidable fact that remains to support the impact theory was the fern spike.
仍旧支持大碰撞理论的不可否认的事实就是蕨类植物。
The predominance of fern spores in the KT boundary layers suggests that all vegetation was destroyed for a time.
在第三纪界线层中,蕨类植物孢子高峰表明所有植物一度遭到过破坏。
Those who are convinced that Chicxulub killed off the dinosaurs argue that the fern spike, caused by the impact,
那些坚持认为希克苏鲁伯大碰撞消灭恐龙的科学家辩称,由大碰撞引起的蕨类高峰,
is still the key to understanding the mass extinction.
仍然是大灭绝认识中的关键。
It's reasonable to think that all the standing vegetation all over the earth was destroyed,
认为地球上所有的常见植物都遭到过破坏,这是有道理的,
so we don't understand exactly how yet,
但我们并不了解具体情形,
but certainly its evidence of a dramatic catastrophe in the terrestrial eco system from the impact.
当然,这是大碰撞给陆地生态系统带来巨大灾难的证据。
Because the vegetation was not destroyed by wild fires,
既然植物不是被野火烧毁的,
the most likely cause seems to be global darkness brought on by the impact dust
那么摧毁它们的最有可能的原因就是由大碰撞烟尘所造成的全球黑暗,
and that would have been catastrophic for the dinosaurs.
这对恐龙来说也是致命的灾难。