Researchers find proof of global cooling after Chicxulub asteroid impact
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 - 09:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(Phys.org) —Scientists have long believed an asteroid that collided with the Earth around 66 million years ago, leaving an enormous crater near Chicxulub Mexico, caused the demise of the dinosaurs and many other living things. Ash and dust thrown into the air during the impact would have caused darkness and a drop in global temperature, leading to a mass extinction. Johan Vellekoop of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues have found evidence of this global cooling by studying lipids in sediment formed at the same time as the collision. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.