Science
Related: About this forum52-foot-tall 'megaripples' from dinosaur-killing asteroid are hiding under Louisiana
By Laura Geggel - Editor about 4 hours ago
These are the largest known megaripples on Earth.
(Image credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Ancient "megaripples" as tall as five-story buildings are hiding deep under Louisiana, and their unique geology indicates that they formed in the immediate aftermath of the asteroid strike that killed the nonavian dinosaurs, a new study finds.
The 52-foot-tall (16 meters) megaripples are about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) under the Iatt Lake area, in north central Louisiana, and date to the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, when that part of the state was underwater, the researchers said. The megaripples' size and orientation suggest that they formed after the giant space rock, known as the Chicxulub asteroid, slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula, leading to the Chicxulub impact tsunami, whose waves then rushed into shallower waters and created the megaripple marks on the seafloor, the researchers said.
The occurrence of "ripples of that size means something very big had to disturb the water column," study lead researcher Gary Kinsland, a professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, told Live Science. "This is just further evidence that the Chicxulub impact ended the Cretaceous period."
The project began when the energy corporation Devon Energy took a 3D seismic survey of Iatt Lake. A seismic survey entails creating loud sound waves (often made with "explosives or big thumps," Kinsland said) and placing surface detectors around the area that can capture the returning sound waves, which are reflected when they hit various underground rock layers. Data from these sound waves allow researchers to make maps of the underground geology.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/megaripples-tsunami-dinosaur-asteroid.html?utm_source=notification
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Havent read this yet. Cant wait to see how this matches up.
niyad
(114,627 posts)The Unmitigated Gall
(3,914 posts)What that day must have looked like. Kind a hard not to wax biblical. I read somewhere once that they did an experiment and found that temperatures in burrows five or more feet deep remained tolerable for our little mammal forebears while absolute hellfire swept the ground above and made charcoal of the creatures that hunted and ate them.
Javaman
(62,595 posts)ret5hd
(20,673 posts)Javaman
(62,595 posts)Response to Javaman (Reply #4)
COL Mustard This message was self-deleted by its author.
LudwigPastorius
(9,436 posts)COL Mustard
(6,096 posts)I said the same thing before I saw your post.
LudwigPastorius
(9,436 posts)👍
COL Mustard
(6,096 posts)Or youre in deep kimchi!
Unknown Beatle
(2,677 posts)Ripple, Boone's Farm, Mateus, and Lancers - wines of the hippie generation.
LudwigPastorius
(9,436 posts)Then, if you were drinking on the wrong side of town, this was for you:
locks
(2,012 posts)who live in Louisiana will love this!
FakeNoose
(33,300 posts)If those dinos were killed off that long ago, then more came later. Because we have bone remnants from as recently as 1 million years ago. It seems evolution has been around the block a few times.
LudwigPastorius
(9,436 posts)Old Okie
(152 posts)After a google search for last dinosaur alive, found a Yale News article giving the age of the last dinosaur as 65 million years ago. Any source for the dinosaurs as recent as 1 million years ago?
RainCaster
(11,038 posts)StClone
(11,706 posts)My Great Grandfather's oral history included the day the last bronto died.
Seriously: https://www.livescience.com/3945-history-dinosaurs.html
Pinback
(12,194 posts)have proof!
Very interesting info thanks!