Dinosaur Extinction And Asteroid Impact, Classic Case Of Wrong Place, Wrong Time
- 6 years ago
Dinosaur Extinction And Asteroid Impact, Classic Case Of Wrong Place, Wrong Time
It seems highly unlikely dinosaurs ever used the phrase “wrong place, wrong time” but if they could have used it, that is how they might have described the mass extinction event that wiped out all their non-avian varieties. According to new research, the largest animals to ever have lived on Earth could have still been alive today if the asteroid impact that led to their extinction had been almost anywhere else on Earth other than its actual site in what is present-day Mexico.
The Chicxulub Impactor, named after its impact site, came hurtling from space and through Earth’s atmosphere about 66 million years ago and when it smashed into the ground, it created a crater over 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide and 20 kilometers deep. Energy from the impact threw molten rocks into the atmosphere which formed soot in the stratosphere. That soot caused rapid global climate change led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event killing about 75 percent of all animal and plant species alive at the time.
However, a study by two Japanese researchers argues the chance of the asteroid impact creating conditions that led to the mass extinction event was a mere 13 percent, and that if Chicxulub had landed at any place on 87 percent of Earth’s landmass at the time, the devastation it caused would have been limited.
It seems highly unlikely dinosaurs ever used the phrase “wrong place, wrong time” but if they could have used it, that is how they might have described the mass extinction event that wiped out all their non-avian varieties. According to new research, the largest animals to ever have lived on Earth could have still been alive today if the asteroid impact that led to their extinction had been almost anywhere else on Earth other than its actual site in what is present-day Mexico.
The Chicxulub Impactor, named after its impact site, came hurtling from space and through Earth’s atmosphere about 66 million years ago and when it smashed into the ground, it created a crater over 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide and 20 kilometers deep. Energy from the impact threw molten rocks into the atmosphere which formed soot in the stratosphere. That soot caused rapid global climate change led to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event killing about 75 percent of all animal and plant species alive at the time.
However, a study by two Japanese researchers argues the chance of the asteroid impact creating conditions that led to the mass extinction event was a mere 13 percent, and that if Chicxulub had landed at any place on 87 percent of Earth’s landmass at the time, the devastation it caused would have been limited.