From dinosaurs and humans-geology and catastrophes

Abstract

Throughout earth’s history, extreme events and the extinctions of species have occurred many times. Mass extinctions are even a tool for geologists to divide this history into periods and eras, like the end of the Cretaceous or the Mesozoic resp. when the dinosaurs vanished from the planet. With the development of various tools in recent years, it was possible to elaborate on plausible hypotheses for this extinction, although time resolution for this event 66 million years ago is still a problem. While extreme events and extinction may be a "catastrophe" for certain species, it may offer opportunities for other species. The success of the human species certainly is-in geological terms-an extreme event for many species, and the beginning of industrialization will be recognized as a sharp boundary in future geological records. As mankind is thus a hazard for the planet, mankind itself is endangered by natural extreme events, like earthquakes, tsunamis and the eruption of volcanoes. Such events still cannot be foreseen deterministically (where-when-how?) but the growing knowledge of the processes which trigger these events allows a more or less reliable probabilistic approach as well as the development of early warning systems and mitigation measurements.