What is asteroid impact theory? Explain.
According to the asteroid impact theory, the extinction was triggered when a huge asteroid struck the earth around 66 million years ago near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The crater created by that impact is still there today--it's called the Chicxulub crater. Today, the Chicxulub crater is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) across and 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) deep, and scientists estimate that the asteroid would have been around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) across.
According to the asteroid impact theory, the force of this enormous asteroid caused a wave of tsunamis, earthquakes, and landslides all over the world. And that was just the beginning. The collision sent 10,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide spewing up into the atmosphere, causing instant and dramatic climate change. In fact, scientists estimate that the debris from the explosion, plus the smoke caused by fires after the impact, created enough particulate matter to temporarily destroy the ozone layer. The clouds of dust thrown up by the explosion blocked the sun, changing the climate of the entire planet and causing a sudden drop in global temperature.
Plants couldn't survive in that environment because they couldn't get enough sunlight to live. That meant death for the plant-eating dinosaurs, which in turn was the end of the carnivorous dinosaurs who preyed on them.
According to the asteroid impact theory, the extinction was triggered when a huge asteroid struck the earth around 66 million years ago near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The crater created by that impact is still there today--it's called the Chicxulub crater. Today, the Chicxulub crater is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) across and 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) deep, and scientists estimate that the asteroid would have been around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) across.
According to the asteroid impact theory, the force of this enormous asteroid caused a wave of tsunamis, earthquakes, and landslides all over the world. And that was just the beginning. The collision sent 10,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide spewing up into the atmosphere, causing instant and dramatic climate change. In fact, scientists estimate that the debris from the explosion, plus the smoke caused by fires after the impact, created enough particulate matter to temporarily destroy the ozone layer. The clouds of dust thrown up by the explosion blocked the sun, changing the climate of the entire planet and causing a sudden drop in global temperature.
Plants couldn't survive in that environment because they couldn't get enough sunlight to live. That meant death for the plant-eating dinosaurs, which in turn was the end of the carnivorous dinosaurs who preyed on them.
