Exploding dinosaur myth burst by scientists Now researchers based at Zurich and Basel universities in Switzerland say they have debunked the myth by proving that it would not have been possible for the gas, released as the bodies decomposed, to reach such pressures that it spontaneously exploded. Through measurements of the corpses of 100 humans, which are of a similar size to ichthyosaurs, they found that putrefaction gases, which build up as the body breaks down, only reach pressures of 0.035 bar. In contrast they calculated that for ichthyosaur skeletons to explode under 50 to 150 metres of water, the depth at which the fossils were found, would require internal gas pressures of between five and 15 bar, which would be extremely unlikely due to gas permanently seeping out of the body. This is in part because the water pressure would neutralise the pressure building up inside the body, Christian Klug, one of the researchers, explained. He said: "It is completely impossible that the carcase explodes without further help. The gas would never get enough pressure to explode. The only exception would be if you stab the carcase, then it might happen but then it would usually just be the organs and body liquids that get expelled. More likely is that certain situations where the oxygen levels, depth and water currents were just right, the carcases would have sunk to the sea bed and been left untouched by predators, the researchers said. As they decomposed gentle currents may have dispersed away the small embryo bones while leaving the larger adult skeletons in situ.