New findings prove that the age of dinosaurs is over in Mexico
17.3.2003
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High-resolution photographs taken by a special radar from a NASA shuttle provide one of the most convincing proofs of the main theory that exists today, according to which the fall of a comet or asteroid on Earth led to the death of the dinosaurs. From the photographs you can clearly see the existence of a crater in an open area of 180 km and at a depth of 900 meters. Most researchers now assume that it was the fall of a celestial gram that caused the death of the dinosaurs and 70% of the animals on Earth 65 million years ago.
The very existence of the crater, called Chiksolov, was already discussed in the 80s, but it was only in the 90s, following satellite information and additional studies on the ground, that its importance was recognized among most scientists. The crater is found in a flat area made of limestone in Mexico, and only with the help of three-dimensional measurements of the Earth, made by NASA's shuttle, can the remnants of the crater be clearly seen.
"The sights visible from the maps are ones that have not been seen before. The crater was actually seen for the first time," said Michael Kubrick, a NASA scientist. "In fact, a large part of the crater's surface is covered, if you walk on it you will not be able to notice that there is a crater underneath. Because of that, the view from the shuttle is invaluable," said Kubrick.
How the impact of the fall of the asteroid or comet on the Earth caused mass destruction on Earth is still unknown. The scientists describe three possibilities: some believe that the creation of the crater brought large amounts of dust into the atmosphere, which blocked the sun and caused the death of the plants. Others believe that sulfur that was released from the force of the fall resulted in the release of clouds of sulfuric acid throughout the earth, which also blocked the sun and even caused acid rain. Another possibility, that boiling parts of the asteroid or planet caused a huge fire all over the globe.
New findings: In Mexico, the age of the dinosaurs ended
By Lior Kodner, Haaretz courtesy of the Walla website
Dinosaurs / A crater seen from space strengthens the theory about how they went extinct
Since the study of dinosaurs began in the 19th century, following the discovery of their huge bones in various places on Earth, dozens of theories have been published that tried to explain the reasons for their extinction. Satellite photographs published this weekend by the American Space Agency (NASA) provide a scientific basis for the prevailing theory about their extinction, according to which a giant object that collided with the Earth 65 million years ago caused it; The satellite images show a huge crater left from the bone collision.
The theory about the giant crater in North America was already presented in the 80s, but only in the early 90s was the first evidence of its existence found. In 1991 it was discovered in the Yucatan Peninsula
In Mexico there is a huge underwater chasm. This finding was defined by the scientists as a "smoking gun" for the circumstances of the death of 70% of the earth's population. But only now, with the publication of the NASA photographs, there is unequivocal evidence for the existence of the crater, its dimensions as well as an explanation of the way it was formed.
According to NASA findings, the width of the crater is about 180 kilometers and its depth is 900 meters. It is thought to have been opened as a result of a comet or an asteroid (a rocky celestial object moving through the solar system) colliding with the Earth, and then covered over millions of years by a layer of rock.
NASA's use of satellite images received from the shuttle "Endeavour" and supercomputers makes it possible to pinpoint the space left by the collision. "For the first time we are providing accurate documentation about the disaster.
The severe environmental that happened on Earth tens of millions of years ago", notes Michael Kubrick from NASA's Earth Mapping Team. "Any person who walks over most of the area in the documented area will not notice at all that an environmental disaster has occurred in this place. To fully understand the phenomenon, we needed photographs from space."
According to the main theory about the extinction of the dinosaurs, the giant bone caused environmental damage, comparable in strength to the explosion of 100 million hydrogen bombs. According to one approach, this collision ignited huge fires and created a cloud of compressed dust, which blocked the sun's rays and caused the temperature on Earth to drop. According to another view, the dust storm caused acid rain, which wiped out most of the animals on Earth.
Another theory claims that the dinozones became extinct as a result of the collision of several asteroids in different places on Earth; This theory was significantly strengthened following the impact of the fragments of the comet "Shoemaker-Levy" 9 on the planet Jupiter in 1994. However, collisions of this type are considered rare and almost no other giant craters from the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs have been found on the surface of the earth, which are able to substantiate the theory. With the publication of the findings on the giant crater in Mexico, most scientists in the world accepted the theory of a giant object hitting the Earth.
According to archaeological findings, dinosaurs first appeared 230 million years ago. They ruled the earth for about 165 million years, until they became extinct very quickly. Studies from recent years have shown that the extinction lasted only about 10,000 years - a very short period of time in evolutionary terms.
In recent years, astronomers from all over the world and the research arms of the American space agency have been following meteors and comets that move near the Earth. The tracking is designed to prevent an object from space from colliding with the Earth, thus destroying human civilization.
So far, scientists have not located a celestial object that threatens the future of the planet, but this danger - known as the "doomsday asteroid" - intensified with the establishment of the theory about the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as following another study according to which a giant meteor that hit the earth 3.5 billion years ago caused destruction that affected the development Life. About two years ago, American researchers claimed that the asteroid - twice the size of the one that destroyed the dinosaurs - caused a thick layer of rocks to rise, threw into the air huge amounts of dust that covered the entire planet and created a tide that flooded the area of the ancient continents. This flooding, and the heat waves that were released during it, Caused the acceleration of the development of sophisticated life forms on Earth.
Lior Kodner
