Origin Of Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs Revealed

The space rock is widely believed to have made its trip to the Earth 66 million years ago. The theory that Chicxulub is the single event that sealed the fate of the reptilian giants that ruled the Earth for eons is supported by geological finds that have eliminated any trace of dinosaurs being found in rocks that were formed after this period. The incident marked the end of the Cretaceous period, where no land or sea dwelling dinosaurs survived past.

Scientists have entertained the hypothesis of the asteroid destroying most of the life of Earth since a father and son team of scientists first postulated the theory decades ago. Luis and Walter Alvarez maintained that an asteroid “larger than Mount Everest” collided with the Earth millions of years ago and created an atmosphere that was unlivable for most creatures. The asteroid they envision would have hit the Earth’s surface with such force that the ash and dust created in its wake would have thrust the planet into a global winter.

The aftermath of the asteroid would have killed off some of the creatures that roamed the Earth on impact. Those that were still living would have died from exposure to the plummeting global temperatures or starved from their food supply running out. These planet killers create an environment that makes it impossible for plants to survive, thus starving to death the herbivores that roamed the Earth.

The carnivorous creatures would see their food supplies dwindle almost as quickly as their prey died out.

The asteroid theory really took off in the 1980s when the scientists studied a layer of clay that wraps around much of the planet. The two were able to identify levels of a metal called iridium inside of the layer, an element that rarely occurs inside Earth-made rocks but is rather common in ones that hit the planet’s surface from space.

Decades later, chromium was discovered in this layer. This metal exists in carbonaceous meteors that have hit the planet, giving more credence to the asteroid theory.

But the asteroid theory isn’t the only one that’s out there. There are some scientists that maintain that, while the Earth was hit with a catastrophic body from space, that the dinosaurs survived and later died from growing competition with larger mammals that evolved. The two classes began competing for the same food sources, leading to the mammals becoming the dominant group and leaving their reptilian predecessors to die out.

No matter what theory is correct, the discovery that the Chicxulub impactor recently yielded is an important piece of the puzzle for understanding how distant objects are formed and where they originate.

Sources: Science.Org