Page "Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event" Paragraph 49

In the years when the Deccan Traps hypothesis was linked to a slower extinction, Luis Alvarez ( who died in 1988 ) replied that paleontologists were being misled by sparse data.

While his assertion was not initially well-received, later intensive field studies of fossil beds lent weight to his claim.

Eventually, most paleontologists began to accept the idea that the mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous were largely or at least partly due to a massive Earth impact.

However, even Walter Alvarez has acknowledged that there were other major changes on Earth even before the impact, such as a drop in sea level and massive volcanic eruptions that produced the Indian Deccan Traps, and these may have contributed to the extinctions.