Dinosaurs' Demise Mystery Solved

The Discovery of the Chicxulub Crater

• In 1990, geoscientist Alan Hildebrand found a 180-kilometer-wide impact crater off the coast of Mexico, buried in a shallow sea.
• The crater contained igneous rock, shocked quartz, spheres of glass, and breccias, indicating an asteroid impact.

Characteristics of the Chicxulub Crater

• The crater's shape suggests the asteroid hit at an angle, causing debris to be skidded towards North America.
• The crater's unusual magnetic field and gravity indicate a massive impact.

Effects of the Chicxulub Impact

• The impact would have caused intense vibrations, fracturing rock and shooting molten debris into the air.
• The thermal shock would have been so intense that everything within sight of the impact would have been obliterated.
• An unprecedented earthquake would have occurred, followed by vast tsunami waves.
• Debris would have been hurled into the atmosphere, with some fragments escaping into space.

Aftermath of the Impact

• Plants and animals in the surrounding area would have died instantly or within days.
• The impact would have triggered a prolonged "impact winter," with ash, sulphur, and soot from burning forests blocking sunlight.
• Photosynthesizers, such as plankton and plants, would have been severely affected, disrupting entire ecosystems.
• Acid rain would have poured from the sky, and the release of greenhouse gases would have triggered rampant global warming.

Significance of the Chicxulub Impact

• The Chicxulub impact is believed to have caused a mass extinction, including the demise of the dinosaurs.
• The discovery of the crater provided strong evidence for the Alvarez hypothesis, linking the impact to the dinosaurs' extinction.