Published By: Satavisha

The Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs: Startling Facts About The Chicxulub Event

After the mighty impact that led to the formation of the Chicxulub crater, the surface of the Earth became pretty much uninhabitable.

Nearly 66 million years ago, a giant asteroid (approximately 10-km-wide) crashed into our planet near Mexico, creating an impact structure with a diameter of about 180 kilometers (119 miles). The event led to a mass extinction - wiping out 75 percent of all animal and plant species, including non-avian dinosaurs. Let us find out some startling discoveries made by the scientists about the Chicxulub Event.

Where can you locate the Chicxulub crater?

The Chicxulub crater is about 119 miles in diameter, located underneath the northern edge of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is one of the best-preserved impact craters to exist on the planet. Most craters on Earth have faced erosion caused by our atmosphere and water – but the Chicxulub crater remains recognizable.

The aftermath of the devastating event

After the giant asteroid hit the Earth, it caused devastating tsunamis everywhere. The emission of particles and dust resulted in rapid environmental changes familiar to a nuclear winter, and the Earth's surface got covered by a blanket of dust for many years. The event produced an air blast and a shock wave that radiated over coastlines and deep underneath the continents. It is speculated that the winds and pressure pulse would have scoured the soil and shredded any animal and vegetation from nearby ecosystems. The impact further led to the generation of a seismic pulse, which is estimated to be equivalent to an earthquake with a magnitude of 10, causing enormous landslides on the seafloor.

Nature of the debris

The debris from the crater landed in the Caribbean region and the Gulf of Mexico within minutes. Furthermore, the debris from the crater constitutes impact-melted spherules, rocky rubble, or mixtures of both. Life on the marine seafloor and continental landscape got buried beneath the debris from the impact.

New findings

Recent scientific expeditions assessed the various impact-generated geological processes underneath the crater floor. Those studies revealed that the impact crater resulted in the creation of environmental conditions ideal for the formation of new ecosystems. The Earth's crust lying underneath the crater supported a hydrothermal system that harboured microbial life thriving in very high-temperature conditions.

Lastly, did you know that asteroids as wide as the Chicxulub can strike our planet once in every 250 million years?