The final event in the extinction of the dinosaurs

There are several hypotheses about the extinction that triggered the end of the era of non-avian dinosaurs and large reptiles, about 66 million years ago, there is controversy over whether the end was caused by great volcanic activity or the impact of an asteroid. or the impact of several asteroids or that it was all together, in a cluster of catastrophic misfortunes for the dinosaurs.

Despite this, most scientists think that the final point was the impact that created the Chicxulub crater in present-day Yucatan, Mexico; a crater of about 180 km in diameter and that was originally about 20 km deep and was caused by an asteroid of about 10 to 14 km in diameter.

A study in the journal nature analyzes this impact and specifically studies the global winter that was triggered due to the dust and debris injected into the atmosphere after the crash. The researchers studied the sediments of the time and created climate simulations with which they have reached the conclusion that the combined effects of silicate dust and sulfur generated by the impact, as well as soot from forest fires on a global scale, led to the accumulation of an enormous mass of fine dust in the atmosphere.

A mass of dust with the capacity to remain in that atmosphere for about 15 years, blocking sunlight, although the worst would be during the 2:2 In the first two years, according to scientists' calculations, the earth's surface temperature dropped about 15 degrees suddenly, which meant a sudden, instantaneous global glaciation.

The animals, especially the large ones that had managed to survive the impact and the fires, could not withstand the new glacial environment. Only small warm-blooded animals such as some mammals and birds that were protected by their hair or plumage could survive the extinction. and then repopulate the Earth.

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