New Discovery Could Change The Way We View The Extinction of the Dinosaurs

Information from the bottom of the sea

(Public domain)

The leading theory regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs (and much life on Earth) revolves around a single massive asteroid strike. The asteroid in question struck the Earth roughly 66 million years ago and left a 100-mile wide crater off of the Yucatan Peninsula. The asteroid would have vaporized nearly everything capable of sustaining life while blotting out the sun with steam, smoke, and ash.

A recent discovery found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean could change that theory.

What if the dinosaurs weren’t destroyed but one massive asteroid impact but by a series of impacts that occurred around the same time?

Scientists researching tectonic relationships between Africa and South America stumbled upon a new crater hiding under 400m of silt and mud at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The new crater is roughly five miles wide and has all of the telltale signs of a massive asteroid crater.

This new crater dates to the same period as the Chicxulub crater, which was created by the planet-killing asteroid of legend.

A Prolonged Impact Event?

Finding craters from millions of years ago is not an easy task. Erosion, tectonics, and life have worn down potential craters until they are almost invisible or completely gone. 66 million years is an incredibly long time.

Craters are essentially just holes in the ground. Holes fill in. Oceans rise and fall. Shorelines change. It makes pinpointing impact craters from millions of years ago a real challenge for geologists.

The presence of another crater from the same general time as the Chicxulub impact raises questions about the nature of the extinction event that ravaged the planet and killed the dinosaurs. What if there were more than one asteroid impact? Is it possible that a series of asteroids struck the Earth over the course of a few thousand or even a million years?

One asteroid the size of the Chicxulub asteroid is bad enough but what if a series of smaller asteroids struck around the same time? This new crater, located in the sea off the coast…