An Everest-sized asteroid that crashed into a shallow ocean near present-day Yucatan 66 million years ago sent tons of fine dust into the atmosphere, enough to stay aloft for years, some scientists believe. A good explanation for why the dinosaurs and three-quarters of all other species on Earth died out so quickly.
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The cause of the mass extinction, now known as the Chicxulub asteroid, has long been the subject of scientific debate. By CNN. The most recent theories are that sulfur and soot from wildfires caused a catastrophic global winter in which temperatures dropped so low that only about 25% of all life survived, and the dinosaurs could not survive the new. Cold environments, according to a report on the new findings in the journal Science Phys.org.
The new study was published last Monday in the journal Natural Earth Sciences The impact produced fine silicate dust that was able to float in the atmosphere for 15 years, darkening the sky for two years long enough to stop the photosynthesis process. As the plants died, the plant-eating animals that ate them starved, and the animals that ate the plants soon died, leading to a cataclysmic event.
Fine silicates from the pulverized rock, along with sulfur and soot, could lower global temperatures by 15 degrees Celsius, the researchers said.
„The cessation of nearly two years after the photosynthetic impact poses serious challenges (to life),” said lead study author and postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Chem Berg Chenel. CNN.com. „It collapsed the food web and created a chain reaction of extinction.
Fine silicate dust from pulverized rock can remain in the atmosphere for 15 years, reducing global temperatures by up to 15 degrees Celsius, researchers report. Natural Earth Sciences.
The study suggested that dinosaurs, which evolved into birds, crocodiles and small mammals, survived because they were generally much smaller than most animals on Earth and did not need as much nutrition as plant life slowly recovered.
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