Yucatan's Dinosaur-Killing Impact Acidified Oceans Richard Ingham - Agence France-Presse
go to original March 11, 2014

Acid rains is thought to have killed many species, changing the face of our oceans forever. (The Australian)

The space rock that smashed into Earth 65 million years ago, famously wiping out the dinosaurs, unleashed acid rain that turned the ocean surface into a witches' brew, researchers say.

Delving into the riddle of Earth's last mass extinction, Japanese scientists said the impact instantly vaporised sulphur-rich rock, creating a vast cloud of sulphur trioxide (SO3) gas.

This mixed with water vapour to create sulphuric acid rain, which would have fallen to the planet's surface within days, acidifying the surface levels of the ocean and killing life therein.

Those species that were able to survive beneath this lethal layer eventually inherited the seas, according to the study which did not delve into the effects on land animals.

"Concentrated sulphuric acid rains and intense ocean acidification by SO3-rich impact vapours resulted in severe damage to the global ecosystem and were probably responsible for the extinction of many species," the study said.

The great smashup is known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.

It occurred when an object, believed to be an asteroid some 10 kilometres (six miles) wide, whacked into the Yucatan peninsula in modern-day Mexico.

It left a crater 180 kilometres (110 miles) wide, ignited a firestorm and kicked up a storm of dust that was driven around the world on high winds, according to the mainstream scenario.

Between 60 and 80 percent of species on Earth were wiped out, according to fossil surveys.

Large species suffered especially: dinosaurs which had roamed the land for some 165 million years, were replaced as the terrestrial kings by mammals.

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