Key Points
New research has shed light on the catastrophic events that unfolded 66 million years ago when a massive asteroid struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, leading to the extinction of three-quarters of the world's species and marking the end of the dinosaur era...
The immediate aftermath of the impact was marked by wildfires, earthquakes, a colossal shockwave in the air, and enormous standing waves in the seas..
Scientists have recently revealed the significant role that dust from the pulverised rock, ejected into the atmosphere from the impact site, played in driving these extinctions...
The dust particles, spawned from the granite and gneiss rock pulverized in the violent impact, formed a global cloud layer that lingered for years, causing Earth's surface temperatures to drop by about 15 degrees Celsius...
The aftermath of the asteroid impact, estimated to be 6-9 miles wide, led to an "impact winter," with global temperatures plummeting and primary productivity collapsing, causing a chain reaction of extinctions..
You might be interested in
Dinosaur-killing asteroid impact fouled Earth's atmosphere with dust
30, Oct, 23It was, to put it mildly, a bad day on Earth when an asteroid smacked Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, causing a global calamity that erased three-quarters of the world's species and ended the age of dinosaurs.