Posted on 11/18/2016 9:20:25 PM PST by MtnClimber
Scientists say they can now describe in detail how the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs produced its huge crater.
The reconstruction of the event 66 million years ago was made possible by drilling into the remnant bowl and analysing its rocks.
These show how the space impactor made the hard surface of the planet slosh back and forth like a fluid.
At one stage, a mountain higher than Everest was thrown up before collapsing back into a smaller range of peaks.
"And this all happens on the scale of minutes, which is quite amazing," Prof Joanna Morgan from Imperial College London, UK, told BBC News.
The researchers report their account in this week's edition of Science Magazine.
Their study confirms a very dynamic, very energetic model for crater formation, and will go a long way to explaining the resulting cataclysmic environmental changes.
The debris thrown into the atmosphere likely saw the skies darken and the global climate cool for months, perhaps even years, driving many creatures into extinction, not just the dinosaurs.
The team spent May to June this year drilling a core through the so-called Chicxulub Crater, now buried under ocean sediments off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Bfl!
I thought the Himalayas were the result of an upthrust from the collision of two tectonic plates.
Himalayan-sized, not THE Hymalayas
Which is not true ...
Antipodes convergence shock resulted in Deccan Traps?
The timing’s about right — the K-Pg boundary — and there’s some speculation that the Chixulub event may have contributed to the emergence of the Himalayan chain. Sounds far-fetched, but an antipodal event of that magnitude could have incredibly distant consequences.
Thanks for the great article, fascinating science.
The plate of Asia is moving away from Australia and the Americas. Look at the maps, and you can actually see the ripples in the land. It is not a mainstream theory, and it is not mine. I do subscribe to it though.
This is akin to one giant meteor landing in Mexico and puff, the dinosaurs are gone. Why only dinosaurs? What about elephants and gazelles? The science is dubious and only for the faint of heart.
Mammals vs. reptiles. Not all reptiles went extinct either.
Note: this topic is from . Thanks MtnClimber.
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