Dinokilling

In June 2021, paleontologist Melanie During submitted a manuscript to Nature that she suspected might create a minor scientific sensation. Based on the chemical isotope signatures and bone growth patterns found in fossilized fish collected at Tanis, a renowned fossil site in North Dakota, During had concluded the asteroid that ended the dinosaur era 65 million years ago struck Earth when it was spring in the Northern Hemisphere. But During, a Ph.D. candidate at…

One of planet Earth’s single worst days ever occurred around 66 million years ago, when a huge asteroid slammed into Earth and wiped out most life, including the dinosaurs. Now a pair of new studies has identified more evidence for just how bad things got, as the impact triggered global tsunamis almost a mile high and mega-earthquakes that rumbled for months afterwards.The Cretaceous period came to an abrupt end when a 10-km (6.2-mile)-wide asteroid (or swarm of asteroids, or maybe a comet fragment) smashed into what is…

A new study claims that the dino-killing asteroid believed to have completely wiped out the dinosaurs may have also caused a global tsunami that reset all oceanic sediment records at the time. 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid the size of a city slammed into the Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. The event effectively reset Earth at the time, giving way for humankind to rise to where it is now. But, this wasn’t just a dino-killing asteroid. The city-wide object also spurred a series of cataclysmic…