DWB1960
05-09-2012, 01:45 PM
Came up in the dinosaur thread but it deserves it's own thread.
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
It's mind blowing the impact (pun intended) this had on our planet:
The impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami) in Earth's history, reaching thousands of meters high. A cloud of super-heated dust, ash and steam would have spread from the crater, as the impactor burrowed underground in less than a second. Excavated material along with pieces of the impactor, ejected out of the atmosphere by the blast, would have been heated to incandescence upon re-entry, broiling the Earth's surface and possibly igniting global wildfires; meanwhile, colossal shock waves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wave) would have triggered global earthquakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes) and volcanic eruptions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_eruption). The emission of dust and particles could have covered the entire surface of the Earth for several years, possibly a decade, creating a harsh environment for living things. The shock production of carbon dioxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide) caused by the destruction of carbonate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonate) rocks would have led to a sudden greenhouse effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). Over a longer period, sunlight would have been blocked from reaching the surface of the earth by the dust particles in the atmosphere, cooling the surface dramatically. Photosynthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis) by plants would also have been interrupted, affecting the entire food chain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_chain). A model of the event developed by Lomax et al. (2001) suggests that net primary productivity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_productivity#GPP_and_NPP) (NPP) rates may have increased to higher than pre-impact levels over the long term because of the high carbon dioxide concentrations.
In February 2008, a team of researchers led by Sean Gulick at the University of Texas at Austin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Austin)’s Jackson School of Geosciences (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_School_of_Geosciences) used seismic images of the crater to determine that the impactor landed in deeper water than was previously assumed. They argued that this would have resulted in increased sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere. According to the press release, that "could have made the impact deadlier in two ways: by altering climate (sulfate aerosols in the upper atmosphere can have a cooling effect) and by generating acid rain (water vapor can help to flush the lower atmosphere of sulfate aerosols, causing acid rain)."
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
It's mind blowing the impact (pun intended) this had on our planet:
The impact would have caused some of the largest megatsunamis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami) in Earth's history, reaching thousands of meters high. A cloud of super-heated dust, ash and steam would have spread from the crater, as the impactor burrowed underground in less than a second. Excavated material along with pieces of the impactor, ejected out of the atmosphere by the blast, would have been heated to incandescence upon re-entry, broiling the Earth's surface and possibly igniting global wildfires; meanwhile, colossal shock waves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_wave) would have triggered global earthquakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes) and volcanic eruptions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_eruption). The emission of dust and particles could have covered the entire surface of the Earth for several years, possibly a decade, creating a harsh environment for living things. The shock production of carbon dioxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide) caused by the destruction of carbonate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonate) rocks would have led to a sudden greenhouse effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect). Over a longer period, sunlight would have been blocked from reaching the surface of the earth by the dust particles in the atmosphere, cooling the surface dramatically. Photosynthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis) by plants would also have been interrupted, affecting the entire food chain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_chain). A model of the event developed by Lomax et al. (2001) suggests that net primary productivity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_productivity#GPP_and_NPP) (NPP) rates may have increased to higher than pre-impact levels over the long term because of the high carbon dioxide concentrations.
In February 2008, a team of researchers led by Sean Gulick at the University of Texas at Austin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Austin)’s Jackson School of Geosciences (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_School_of_Geosciences) used seismic images of the crater to determine that the impactor landed in deeper water than was previously assumed. They argued that this would have resulted in increased sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere. According to the press release, that "could have made the impact deadlier in two ways: by altering climate (sulfate aerosols in the upper atmosphere can have a cooling effect) and by generating acid rain (water vapor can help to flush the lower atmosphere of sulfate aerosols, causing acid rain)."