2023-11-10 05:00:06
About 66 million years ago, an asteroid larger than Mount Everest crashed into Earth, causing the extinction of three-quarters of living species, including dinosaurs. An international team of researchers has re-examined the causes of this massive extinction, publishing a study in the journal Nature Geoscience, and suggests that the fine silicate dust would have remained in the atmosphere for 15 years, reducing global temperatures by up to 15 degrees Celsius.
What was the real cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs? According to new research, a considerable amount of dust would have been thrown into the atmosphere by the impact of the asteroid (An asteroid is a celestial object whose dimensions vary by a few dozen…).
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The dominant theory until recently was that sulfur or soot from forest fires wooded, relatively dense,…) worldwide, both consequences of the impact, would have darkened the sky and caused a long and dark winter. However, the new research, which used particles found at the key fossil site of Tanis in the United States, has reaffirmed the The previous hypothesis: it was the dust raised by the asteroid which caused this winter impact.
The dust particles, of a size to persist in the atmosphere, “completely shut down photosynthesis (Greek φῶς phōs, light and…)” for at least a year, causing a “catastrophic collapse” of life, according to study co-author Ozgur Karatekin, of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (The royal observatory of Belgium (ORB) is a Belgian astronomical observatory founded by…).
This discovery reaffirms the theory originally proposed in 1980 by scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez, which gained credibility with the later discovery of the Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Although the question of precisely which element – dust, sulfur or soot – was the main driver of the impact winter remains debated, this study represents an interesting effort to answer this “burning question”, according to Sean Gulick, a geophysicist at the University of Texas in Austin not involved in the research.
By exploring the events of Earth’s last mass extinction, scientists hope to better understand not only our past, but also our future, given that we ourselves might be in the midst of a mass extinction.
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