Number the ideas about extinction to show the chronological order in which they were popular, with 1 being the first idea about extinction up to 5 being the most recent idea: There are no catastrophes in the history of life on Earth. Each species goes extinct at its own time, the result of its struggle for existence with new, more improved. All species have existed forever, and all still exist. There was a terrible catastrophe at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. The iridium layer, shocked quartz, and the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico shows that a massive asteroid hit the Earth, resulting in the extinction of % of plant and animal species over a relatively short period of time. Life on Earth has a history. Species go extinct, the result of terrible catastrophes. At first, only a few extinct species were known, and only a few catastrophes needed to have occurred to cause these extinctions. However, over time more and more extinct species were discovered. have existed forever, and all still exist. There was a terrible catastrophe at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. The iridium layer, shocked quartz, and the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico shows that a massive asteroid hit the Earth, resulting in the extinction of 3/4 of plant and animal species over a relatively short period of time. Life on Earth has a history. Species go extinct, the result of terrible catastrophes. At first, only a few extinct species were known, and only a few catastrophes needed to have occurred to cause these extinctions. However, over time more and more extinct species were discovered, requiring more and more catastrophes until just too many catastrophes were needed to explain the fossil record. Conditions on Earth usually change slowly, but once in a while catastrophes do occur. These catastrophes, although rare, are extremely important because they determine the pattern of life on Earth..