HISTORY SECONDARY COOPERATIVE EDUCATION
Doubts about Alvarez's theory are founded in equally credible explanations of the KT boundary. One notable theory is the "KT-Deccan Traps volcanism-induced carbon cycle perturbation extinction theory" of Dewey McLean, Professor Emeritus of Geology in the Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA. Besides the science, what makes McLean's theory attractive is the amount of effort Alvarez has invested to suppress it.
While precise dating of deep time events is difficult at best, ample evidence exists to suggest that at about the same time Alvarez's asteroid cratered the Yucatan peninsula, a hotspot volcano produced the Deccan Traps eruption with equally devastating results. Unlike an explosive supervolcano event such as the last Yellowstone eruption, the miles-thick Deccan Traps eruption flowed out over thousands of square miles, and released massive amounts of iridium into the atmosphere. Sizable remnants of this lava pile still exist on a volcanically active Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.