A team of international scientists concluded their 20-year
research by stating that the dinosaurs were done in by a meteor strike which
resulted in the Chicxulub crater.
The Chicxulub crater is a prehistoric crater in the Gulf of
Mexico. It is near the Chicxulub town in Yucataan Peninsula, Mexico.
The Chicxulub crater was first discovered in late in late
1970’s by a geophysicist Glen Penfield while searching for oil reserves. Though
initially there was no strong evidence that the crater was formed due to an
asteroid impact but samples of shocked quartz and tektites collected from the
site strongly hinted that it was indeed formed by an impact.
The Chicxulub crater measures more than 110 miles in
diameter while the collided asteroid is estimated to be around 7 miles in
diameter. The colossal comet is estimated to be travelling at 10 times the
speed of a bullet when it smashed into the Earth’s surface creating worldwidemayhem.
The energy released by the impact is approximated to be a billion
times that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings which might have triggered
various volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis and greater than 11-magnitude earthquakes.
Observations and calculations suggest the crater might have
been formed around 65 million years ago and resulted in wiping out nearly all
the majority dominant species.
The group of scientists rejected the claim that volcanic
activity in India caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction stating that the
incident resulted in destroying land and water eco-systems which could only be
possible due to an asteroid impact.
Astonishingly, while the impact was a devastation for the
whole planet it resulted in giving mammals the reins of the world and proving
to be the most pivotal moment in human history.
The research was published in today’s Science journal.
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