Dinosaur-killing asteroid splashed mile-high tsunamis that swept the entire world

[Judi Lynn]

After a giant space rock slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, it unleashed a massive tsunami that crashed into nearby coastlines.

by Tibi Puiu February 22, 2023 in Geology, News Reading Time: 5 mins read

The asteroid that struck Earth offshore Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was simply devastating to all life on Earth, not just the dinosaurs. The cosmic impact unleashed the force of 10 billion Hiroshima A-bombs and ejected gigatons of sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which could have lowered surface air temperatures by a staggering 26 degrees Celsius (47 degrees Fahrenheit). This global winter lasted for years, enough to devastate plant life and everything else along the food chain. Around 75% of all animals and plant species went extinct, including the iconic dinosaurs (except for birds).

But it wasn’t just the blast and subsequent famine that wreaked havoc. In the immediate aftermath of the cosmic impact, a monstrous tsunami was triggered. Its waves went as high as a mile and ravaged the ocean floor for many thousands of miles from the impact site. In a new study, scientists have now conducted the first global simulation of the Chicxulub tsunami, which reveals new insights about the path and power these enormous waves took.

"This tsunami was strong enough to disturb and erode sediments in ocean basins halfway around the globe, leaving either a gap in the sedimentary records or a jumble of older sediments,” said lead author Molly Range from the University of Michigan, who conducted the research as part of the master’s thesis.

The ripples of an ancient giant tsunami



Range and colleagues, including physical oceanographer Brian Arbic and paleoceanographer Ted Moore, combed through the geological record from more than 100 sites across the world. Specifically, they looked at the K–Pg boundary, a thin layer of sediment deposited just after the asteroid impact that marks the end of the Cretaceous period and is about 66 million years old.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/dinosaur-killing-asteroid-splashed-mile-high-tsunamis-that-swept-the-entire-world/

[brush]

1. Have any remnants of the asteroid been found?

[WheelWalker]

3. The Irridium Anomaly?

[yardwork]

4. Yes, in a thin layer all over the globe.

Apparently the asteroid was vaporized. The particles were carried all over the world and deposited in a tell-tale layer.

[Marthe48]

10. I read about this discovery a few years ago

I can't remember which magazine, but a young paleontologist might have found a site that preserved what happened right after the meteor hit. I found this article in the New Yorker. It is a good read. Not proven as fact, but maybe as time goes on, his work will be accepted: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died

[cstanleytech]

13. You mean large pieces? I find it unlikely that any will ever be found as the impact probably

disintegrated most of it and spread it out around the world but even if all of it did not disintegrate it probably was mixed with the molten rock in the crater.

[BigmanPigman]

2. Last night I couldn't sleep until

I investigated the size of the meteor that hit. I had thought it was 1/2 mile wide but it turns out I was way off, it was 6 MILES in diameter. WOW! It even caused earthquakes I found out.

I keep thinking of eclectic topics and then within 24 hours I hear or see info on the same topic. Synchronicity or coincidence. This happens to me for some reason every month or so. Weird.

[tavernier]

5. You're a Wizard, Harry!

Seriously, that is amazing. I’ve had similar experiences but definitely not monthly. Once or twice a year, tops. But it is always disconcerting when it happens.

[BigmanPigman]

7. I'm used to it by now but still find it odd.

Until a few years ago I thought everyone had these connections often but then I found out it isn't that normal. I wish I had realistic premonitions, that would be very cool to me.

[LisaM]

8. This happens to me, too.

I thought it happened to everyone.

[BigmanPigman]

14. Welcome to the club.

We must have some sort of awareness that can't be explained at this time by science.

[BigmanPigman]

22. Ha, it just happened to me again.

I think I am in one of my "phases" of coincidences. I have learned to acknowledge it and accept it with humor. Insert "The Twilight Zone" music here.

[paleotn]

11. The Czar Bomba thermonuclear test. Roughly 55 or so megatons in the Russian high arctic.

The shock wave circled the planet 3 times and was measured as a pressure wave in New Zealand. A seismic wave also circled through the earths crust 3 times. The flash could be seen as far away as Alaska.

And that was like a match compared to a raging 1000 acre forest fire with the Chicxulub impactor. I cannot imagine what the impact was like even on the other side of the planet. Bad day to be on planet earth.

[BigmanPigman]

16. I read that it created forest fires all over the planet too....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater

"The rock heated Earth's surface and ignited wildfires, estimated to have enveloped nearly 70% of the planet's forests".

Unbelievable

[Hieronymus Phact]

19. It's the Lattice of Coincidence

[BigmanPigman]

21. That was clear as mud, as my mom would say.

But it also shows how much we don't know about SO much and having an open mind is a good thing. I like to reference Shakespeare when it comes to this topic....

"A phrase used by the title character in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Hamlet suggests that human knowledge is limited: There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy".

[littlemissmartypants]

6. Video

[SCantiGOP]

9. Interesting to think what would have happened without the asteroid

Would dinosaurs have continued?
Most scientists think that the absence of the big predators that were killed off was a major reason the relatively weak mammals were able to survive, evolve and eventually produce humanity.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. It's hard to say.

Dinosaurs were already in serious decline by the time the asteroid hit. They may well have been very much on the way out, although it's possible their extinction would have taken several million, maybe several tens of millions of years longer, but mammals could have become the dominant species anyway.

I'm slightly surprised at the people posting in this thread for whom this seems to be breaking news. It was about 1980 that the asteroid was first proposed by Luis and Walter Alvarez, physicist father and geologist son. It took several more years before the Chicxulub crater off the Yucatan of Mexico was determined to be the impact site.

Apologies in advance if I misunderstood anyone.

[NickB79]

26. That's up for debate (the serious decline)

Some studies say yes, others say their ecosystems were healthy and diverse right up to the end.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/12/221207142210.htm

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. I'm under the impression that they were seriously declining.

Of course, I might well be wrong, and they were strong and viable until that awful asteroid.

[paleotn]

12. Now THAT was a very bad day. Very bad.

[tornado34jh]

17. One professor also suggested hypercanes as a subsequent result of the asteroid impact near water

Basically, it's a hurricane on steroids. It is thought to have formed when the water temperature reached 120 F, which is almost 30 degrees hotter than the warmest water temperature ever recorded. It supposedly had winds of 500 mph, near supersonic, and the height of it was 20-30 miles up into the atmosphere. It would have reached the upper stratosphere, maybe the lower mesosphere and destroyed the ozone layer, which would have brought dangerous levels of UV radiation to Earth. It probably would have taken years to replenish the ozone layer.

[FakeNoose]

18. Is that the real reason that Noah built his Ark?

Somebody - maybe God who knows? - gave Noah a heads-up and told him to build a very large boat that was sealed with pitch from the outside that had the ability to roll over and right itself in the huge waves. And somebody told Noah to rescue two animals (male and female) of every species he could find. Hmmm ...

[Farmer-Rick]

24. With 65 million years between

The existence of dinosaurs and humankind, I seriously doubt it.

That boat would have burned especially with all that pitch on it, if it had been around when the asteroid hit.

[LudwigPastorius]

20. There's another Chicxulub-sized meteor out there with our names on it.

It could hit next year, or it could hit in 150 million years.

A comet or asteroid doesn't have to be that big to kill a large percentage of the population though. A 2 km impactor could bring about global famine from the amount of debris kicked into the upper atmosphere.

Elon Musk is a douchebag tech bro, but he's right that if we want to have a chance for long-term survival as a species, we've got to colonize other planets.

[Farmer-Rick]

25. NASA tested the DART missile 4 months ago

It actually changed the trajectory of an asteroid. Let's hope they keep working on that

[Backseat Driver]

23. Wow! n/t