The massive asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and nearly 75 percent of life on Earth likely originated in the outer part of the main asteroid belt that was previously considered relatively “safe” by scientists.
Researchers from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, found that this main belt region produced at least 10 times more large asteroids hitting Earth than previously thought.
They made the discovery after analyzing the composition of space rocks in this region and comparing it to the Chicxulub crater.
The researchers used a computer model of asteroid evolution, along with observations of known asteroids and examined rock samples from the Chicxulub impact on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
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The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs probably came from outside the main asteroid belt
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This outer belt region (marked with arrows) sent at least 10 times more large asteroids crashing into Earth than previously thought.
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Using NASA’s Pleaides Supercomputer, the researchers looked at 130,000 typical asteroids that have “escaped” from the main belt.
This is the result of the thermal forces causing them to float down the “escape hole” and eventually leave the belt as a result of the planet’s gravitational kick.
They found that 6-mile-wide asteroids, such as those that hit Earth 66 million years ago, hit Earth “at least 10 times more often” than previously thought.
The findings are interesting not only because the outer part of the asteroid belt is home to a large number of carbonaceous chondrites, but also because the team’s simulations can, for the first time, reproduce the orbits of a large asteroid that will approach Earth, study colleagues said. -author Dr. Simon Marchi at A statement.
The asteroid hitting Earth is similar to the carbonaceous asteroid chondrite in the main asteroid belt
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Our interpretation of the source of the Chicxulub impact fits well with what we already know about how asteroids evolve.
They also found that a 6-mile-wide asteroid hits Earth on average once every 250 million years, half of which are carbonaceous chondrites, most likely the type of asteroid that caused the Chicxulub collision.
The researchers used a computer model of asteroid evolution, along with observations of known asteroids and examined rock samples from the Chicxulub impact on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
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Carboniferous chondrites are common among asteroids about a mile wide approaching Earth, although none would cause a Chicxulub effect size explosion.
The statement added that experts previously studied the remains of the asteroid that left the Chicxulub crater and found that this asteroid is similar to the carbonaceous chondrite meteorite, which is “one of the most original materials in the solar system.”
Study co-author Dr David Nesvorno added: “This work will help us better understand the nature of the Chicxulub effect, while also telling us where other major impacts have come from Earth’s past.”
Recent studies published In the scientific journal Icarus.
Earlier this month, a separate group of researchers confirmed that an asteroid sent a mile-high tsunami that hit North America following the discovery of fossilized “megaripples” in central Louisiana.
In addition to the giant tsunami that sent tidal waves thousands of miles from the impact site, there were wildfires 1,000 miles away, and plumes of dust that circled the globe.
The effects themselves may have wreaked havoc for thousands of miles, but the effects are felt globally through changes in the atmosphere.
In February, University of Texas researchers found asteroid dust in core samples they said was “final evidence” that a city-sized space rock wiped out the dinosaurs.
An “Age of Dinosaurs” ending with an asteroid rather than a series of volcanic eruptions or other disasters has been a major theme since the 1980s.
In the 1990s, the idea was strengthened by the discovery of the Chicxulub crater. It’s 93 miles wide and 12 miles deep, about the same age as the rock layers.
