Dinosaurs Might Have Survived the Asteroid, Had It Hit Almost Anywhere Else

Live Science ^ | November 9, 2017 12:44pm ET | Charles Q. Choi,

[BenLurkin]

The scientists now find the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs happened to hit an unlucky spot — had it landed in about 87 percent of anywhere else on Earth, the mass extinction might not have occurred. "The probability of the mass extinction occurring was only 13 percent," said study lead author Kunio Kaiho, a geochemist at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan.

The scientists ran computer models simulating the amount of soot that asteroid impacts would have generated depending on the amount of hydrocarbons in the ground. They next estimated the climate effects caused by these different impact scenarios.

The researchers calculated the level of climate change needed to cause a mass extinction was a 14.4 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 10 degrees Celsius) drop in global average surface air temperatures. This would involve an asteroid impact sending 385 million tons (350 million metric tons) of soot into the stratosphere.

The scientists found that a mass extinction would have occurred from the impact only if it had hit 13 percent of the surface of the Earth, including both land and oceans. "If the asteroid had hit a low- to medium-level hydrocarbon area on Earth, occupying approximately 87 percent of the Earth's surface, mass extinction could not have occurred," Kaiho told Live Science.

The scientists are also analyzing the level of climate change "caused by large volcanic eruptions that may have contributed to other mass extinctions," Kaiho said. "It is hoped that the results will lead to further understanding of the processes behind those mass extinctions."

[Rio]

[DuncanWaring]

Imagine trying to drive that road after the herd had passed but before the dungplow had passed.

[zeestephen]

Since huge regions of the ocean floor have not been analyzed for hydrocarbons, I don't understand how he calculated that 87% of the Earth's surface has a low-to-medium hydrocarbon level.

[backwoods-engineer]

God doesn’t miss, though.

[backwoods-engineer]

The planet’s gravity had to be about a third of what it is today for the dinosaurs to live.

This is literally one of the kookiest things I've ever read on FR, and there's been some doozies.

[Kozak]

Nothing survived at ground zero, not even bacteria.

[bravo whiskey]

Dinosaurs Might Have Survived the Asteroid, Had It Hit Almost Anywhere Else

Like Mars maybe?

[PIF]

For reference: The Problem with Big Dinosaurs

[Vermont Lt]

It hit in the water right in the elbow of the Yucatán down in the Gulf of Mexico. Or was that rhetorical?

It was in the first sentence of the article.

[samtheman]

Yup

[Oztrich Boy]

You mean like anywhere else in the universe?

[Tenacious 1]

Imagine trying to drive that road after the herd had passed but before the dungplow had passed.

It would have to be repaved.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. Sorry, just saw this. Global Warming Hoax BS -- just the flash and heat from crater ejecta set fires all over the world; the entire surface of the Earth received no sunlight thanks to dust, and that lasted for months at least, probably years.

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[SunkenCiv]

A large body of scientific evidence now exists in support of the idea that a major asteroid or comet impact occurred 65 million years ago and led to the extinction of 75 percent of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs. [Done Davis / NASA ]