The asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago devastated life across the planet, wiping out the dinosaurs and other organisms in a hail of fire and catastrophic climate change. But new research shows that it also set the stage for life to rebound astonishingly quickly. New species of plankton appeared fewer than 2,000… Continue Reading Evidence of ‘lightning-fast’ evolution found after dino-killing asteroid impact
Recreating Chicxulub’s Post-Impact Hydrothermal System
Student Spotlight By Freja Cini Graduate student Soraya Alfred studies hydrothermal fluid flow at impact craters to understand their role in life on Earth and on other planets. How long did it take for life to bounce back after an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs? That’s what Soraya Alfred — a graduate research assistant… Continue Reading Recreating Chicxulub’s Post-Impact Hydrothermal System
Mystery crater potentially caused by relative of dinosaur-killing asteroid
Originally published in The Conversation. The ocean floor is famously less explored than the surface of Mars. And when our team of scientists recently mapped the seabed, and ancient sediments beneath, we discovered what looks like an asteroid impact crater. Continue Reading Mystery crater potentially caused by relative of dinosaur-killing asteroid
Asteroid Dust Found in Crater Closes Case of Dinosaur Extinction
Researchers believe they have closed the case of what killed the dinosaurs, definitively linking their extinction with an asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago by finding a key piece of evidence: asteroid dust inside the impact crater. Death by asteroid rather than by a series of volcanic eruptions or some other global… Continue Reading Asteroid Dust Found in Crater Closes Case of Dinosaur Extinction
Rocks at Asteroid Impact Site Record First Day of Dinosaur Extinction
When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs slammed into the planet, the impact set wildfires, triggered tsunamis and blasted so much sulfur into the atmosphere that it blocked the sun, which caused the global cooling that ultimately doomed the dinos. That’s the scenario scientists have hypothesized. Now, a new study led by The University… Continue Reading Rocks at Asteroid Impact Site Record First Day of Dinosaur Extinction