Forged 66 million years ago, an enormous impact crater near Chixculub, Mexico, was left undiscovered until only a few short decades ago. But what caused it?
The impact site, near Chixculub in Mexico, triggered global fires, tsunamis, and a nuclear winter that likely extinguished many long-lived species, including the dinosaurs, in a short time.What is the Chicxulub crater?located partly onshore and partly offshore of the Yucatán Peninsula's coast. Its center is close to the town of Chicxulub, after which it was given its name. While this impact site is now famous, you can't really "see" it today as it is partially underwater.
Later, Penfield received samples from Alan R. Hildebrand in 1990, which showed that it was an impact feature. There are signs, such as shattered quartz and tektites in the area, that an impact made the crater. Think about what would happen if the event occurred in a single area, like the Raton Basin in Colorado and New Mexico. This is another way to think of the effects on everyone.After the impact, the temperatures likely went up and down like a yo-yo. There would have been several temperature jumps as debris from the Chicxulub crater showered into the atmosphere. It's possible that the high temperatures burned the grass.
Such catastrophic upheaval sets off a chain reaction of natural catastrophes that likely sent tsunamis sweeping across the oceans and hurling colossal amounts of debris into the skies.
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