Scientists Find Clues in Yucatan Asteroid Crater Daniel Jimenez - Examiner.com
go to original May 8, 2016

An asteroid fell upon on earth sixty-six million years ago, with catastrophic results. The aftermath of fire and smoke blocked out the sun creating an unanticipated winter. Many scientists believe the ensuing chaos led to the demise of 75 percent of life on earth. This was known as the mass extinction at the tail end of the Cretaceous period.

Millions of years later, earth still has the scar to prove it. The Chicxulub crater is 125 miles wide and is located off of Mexico’s coast. Scientists discovered the crater in the 80’s and have recently begun digging deeper to find out clues about life on earth after the impact, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

Scientists are interested in the “peak ring” of the crater. Also known as the center of impact. Chicxulub happens to be the only crater on earth with a peak ring that is still intact and relatively accessible. Peak rings from other craters have eroded by this point so Chicxulub is something special. Professor Joanna Morgan, the co-lead investigator on the expedition, explained to BBC News what they hope to find.

"We want to know where the rocks that make up this peak ring come from. Are they from the lower, mid or upper crust? Knowing that will help us understand how large craters are formed, and that's important for us to be able to say what was the total impact energy, and what was the total volume of rock that was excavated and put into the Earth's stratosphere to cause the environmental damage," Morgan explained.

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