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
Evolution Imposes “Speed Limit” on Recovery after Mass Extinctions
It takes at least 10 million years for life to fully recover after a mass extinction, a speed limit for the recovery of species diversity that is well known among scientists. Explanations for this apparent rule have usually invoked environmental factors, but research led by The University of Texas at Austin links the lag to… Continue Reading Evolution Imposes “Speed Limit” on Recovery after Mass Extinctions