THE ORIGINS OF THE ASTEROID THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS FINALLY DISCOVERED
There once was a time when dinosaurs lived on Earth. Subsequently, 66 million years ago, a massive space rock fragment slammed into Earth, leaving behind a massive crater and billowing clouds of dust and debris. Known today as the Chicxulub impactor, thousands of species were wiped out by this asteroid, which included the enormous land-dwelling dinosaurs of old. Nevertheless, despite a wealth of geological and paleontological research, this event remains largely mysterious.
One question has been answered thanks to a recent Science paper: what kind of space rock collided with Earth? Based on the presence of Ruthenium, an element that is extremely rare on Earth, it turns out that a carbonaceous asteroid is the most likely explanation.
A novel approach was used by Mario Fischer-Gödde of the University of Cologne, Germany, to support the scientific argument recently made by scientists indicating that the impactor was a carbonaceous asteroid. Carbonaceous asteroids, also known as C-type asteroids, are abundant in space, have a high carbon content, and are usually located in the outermost regions of the asteroid belt in our system. This indicates that it originates from outside of Jupiter's solar system.
Siliceous asteroids are fairly common in space, but they have a significantly higher chance of striking Earth. These S-type asteroids orbit the inner edge of the asteroid belt closer to Earth. They are composed of silicate and nickel-iron among other materials.
According to Dr Fischer-Gödde, "Chicxulub appears to be a unique and rare case of a carbonaceous-type asteroid hitting Earth," out of all the 500 million-year-old impactors.
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary was studied by the researchers to determine whether the dinosaur-killing asteroid was an S-type or a C-type. The impact debris from modern-day Mexico settled and created a thin layer of rock in the geological record that is found throughout the world. From South Dakota to India to Italy, this is visible.
It's the final nail in the coffin, according to Dr. Fischer-Gödde. "There is no other possible explanation for this ruthenium isotope signature than a carbonaceous asteroid." There are still a ton of unanswered questions regarding the asteroid and the difficult times the dinosaurs faced before our era.