Tsunami Followed Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact

Curtin University researchers who were part of a scientific expedition that retrieved core samples from a crater in the Gulf of Mexico have found evidence that the asteroid that caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs also triggered a giant tsunami.

The research, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was carried out by a scientific team that drilled deep beneath the Chicxulub crater, which was created 66 million years ago by the impact of a giant asteroid that was believed to have killed three-quarters of all life on Earth.

Lead Australian researcher John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice, from the WA-Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre (WA-OIGC) in Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the team drilled into the crater in order to retrieve rocks from 500 meters to 1,300 meters below the seafloor, finding evidence of the events of the days after impact.

"This research helps answer the tantalising question of exactly what happened in the immediate aftermath of one of the most significant events in Earth's history," Professor Grice said.

"The asteroid impact that formed the Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where this research was carried out, is thought to be the cause of the late Cretaceous Period mass extinction event which led to 76 percent of all plant and animal species world-wide, including all non-flying dinosaurs, being killed off.

"The research team analysed samples of the peak ring of the Chicxulub crater core for molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), revealing that a tsunami measuring several hundred metres in height flooded the crater within days of the asteroid impact."

Professor Grice said the tsunami carried debris containing the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) perylene, which is derived from a pigment made by fungi that degrade wood.

"The abundance of perylene within the crater is the result of it being transported there by the soil and land plant debris carried by the tsunami," Professor Grice said.

Professor Sean Gulick, from the University of Texas at Austin, is the lead author of the research and led the International Ocean Discovery Program expedition to the Chicxulub crater in 2016.

Research Report: "The First Day of the Cenozoic," Sean P. S. Gulick et al., 2019 Sep. 9, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Related Links
Curtin University
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Europe and US teaming up for asteroid deflection
Paris (ESA) Sep 04, 2019
Asteroid researchers and spacecraft engineers from the US, Europe and around the world will gather in Rome next week to discuss the latest progress in their common goal: an ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in space, to prove the technique as a viable method of planetary defence. This combined mission is known as the Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment, or AIDA for short. Its purpose is to deflect the orbit of the smaller body of the double Didymos asteroids between Eart ... read more