Asteroid dust cloud may have caused mass extinction: study
New research suggests that the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs created a massive dust cloud that trapped heat and baked the planet. This atmospheric change likely turned a localized disaster into a global mass extinction event.
Why it matters
Understanding the mechanics of past mass extinctions provides critical context for how atmospheric changes can rapidly alter planetary habitability.
A giant asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago may have done more than trigger earthquakes and towering tsunamis. New research suggests it also wrapped the planet in a heat-trapping blanket of dust that effectively baked much of the surface, leaving few places for life to escape.
The findings offer fresh insight into how the impact that formed the Chicxulub crater near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula became a global extinction event that may have wiped out roughly three-quarters of Earth’s species, including most dinosaurs.
The study , conducted by researchers at Purdue University and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, concludes that an enormous cloud of fine dust trapped heat in the atmosphere after the impact, dramatically raising temperatures worldwide and fuelling widespread wildfires.
Lead author Brandon Johnson said the asteroid’s tremendous energy did not end with the initial collision.
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