Dinosaur asteroid hit 'worst possible place'

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Dinosaur asteroid hit 'worst possible place'

15 May 2017 Science & Environment

Scientists who drilled into the impact crater associated with the demise of the dinosaurs summarise their findings so far in a BBC Two documentary on Monday.

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It is becoming clear that the 15km-wide asteroid could not have hit a worse place on Earth.

The shallow sea covering the target site meant colossal volumes of sulphur (from the mineral gypsum) were injected into the atmosphere, extending the "global winter" period that followed the immediate firestorm.

Had the asteroid struck a different location, the outcome might have been very different.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39922998

[Warpy]

1. Doubtful. Remember, the eruptions that were forming the Deccan Traps

had been going on for about 5 million years at that point, the asteroid just delivering the coup de grace for the big dinosaurs. They were already on the ropes and that's why the fossil record doesn't show a massive, sudden dinosaur die off at the level of the asteroid debris. It's also why the K-T die off was spottier than others, the changes had come about more slowly and some plants and smaller creatures had adapted to it.

IOW, that thing could have it anywhere and had the same effect since the atmosphere was already full of sulphur from two huge magma plumes that had been erupting pretty constantly for millions of years. Having an asteroid fall into a gypsum bed didn't help any of them, but it wasn't the whole story.

[PsychoBabble]

2. Good to hear ... otherwise we might all be typing with little T-rex arms