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A single, gigantic asteroid slammed into Earth 65 million years ago, dooming the dinosaurs and many other species... Scientists believe that an asteroid about 6 miles wide hurtled to Earth 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, plunging into what is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to carve out the Chicxulub crater measuring about 110 miles across. To put it mildly, it was a bad day to live on Earth. The impact triggered a worldwide environmental catastrophe, many scientists believe, expelling vast quantities of rock and dust into the sky, unleashing giant tsunamis, sparking global wildfires and leaving Earth shrouded in darkness for years. The dinosaurs, which had ruled for 160 million years, were wiped out. So were large marine reptiles like the mosasaurs and the plesiosaurs, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, the tentacled ammonites that populated the seas and many species of marine plankton. The birds suffered losses but survived. The mammals made it through as well, allowing these warm-blooded, furry little creatures to eventually dominate the land and ultimately setting the stage for the rise of human beings. Evidence of the single-asteroid calamity, in the form of debris from the impact scattered worldwide, is contained in rocks dating back to 65 million years ago. Any rock samples taken too close to the crater may be altered by events that occurred immediately after the impact, like waves, earthquakes and landslides. Samples taken too far away may contain too little debris evidence from the impact. Now that's what i call SOLID proof!!! |
Source: http://science-core.blogspot.com/2006/12/single-massive-asteroid-wiped-out.html
Last edited by einstein on Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:00 am; edited 1 time in total
