Megaripples 16 meters high from a dinosaur-killing asteroid, apparently hiding

Suara.com – “Megaripples“(giant ripples) an ancient five-story building lurking deep beneath Louisiana.

According to a new study, this unique geology suggests they formed soon after the attack asteroid that killed the nonavian dinosaurs.

The 52-foot (16-meter) megaripples lie about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the Lake Iatt area, in north central Louisiana, United States (US).

According to the researchers, the megaripples are predicted to date back to the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, when parts of the state were underwater.

Also Read:
Not only powerful, asteroids the size of cities hit the earth 10 times more often

The size and orientation of the megaripples suggest that they formed after the giant space rock, known as the asteroid Chicxulub.

According to research, the asteroid hit the Yucatán Peninsula, which caused the Chicxulub impact tsunami, the waves then flowed into shallow water and created megaripple marks on the seabed.

“The occurrence of a ripple of that magnitude means something very large has disturbed the water column,” said study lead researcher Gary Kinsland, a professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

“This is just further evidence that the Chicxulub impact ended the Cretaceous period,” he said Live Science, Wednesday (21/7/2021).

The project began when energy company Devon Energy conducted a 3D seismic survey of Lake Iatt.
A seismic survey requires creating loud sound waves (often created with explosives or thuds).

Then place surface detectors around the area that can pick up the returning sound waves, which are reflected as they hit various layers of underground rock.

Also Read:
Scientists say the impact of the dinosaur-killing asteroid was 10 times stronger than expected

This data from sound waves allows researchers to create underground geological maps.

Study co-researcher Kaare Egedahl, then a master’s student in petroleum geology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, took Devon Energy data and created seismic images of the underground area.

“Kaare brought it to me, and she said, ‘What is this?’ because it’s so different from anything you’d expect to see in sediments laid on the shores of a sea or river,” Kinsland said.

Kinsland had previously studied the Chicxulub impact crater.

“I immediately saw the ripples, and I immediately knew the direction the water was supposed to be going [untuk menciptakannya], “he said.

“And I know that if you back away from it, you run right into Chicxulub,” he added looking at the seismic image.

Kinsland is able to determine the direction of a tsunami because the megaripples are asymmetrical, indicating the direction the water flows when it is created.

“In this case, the long, asymmetrical side of the megaripples has a south-southeast-facing slope, pointing back to the Chicxulub impact crater,” he said.

Megaripples have an average wavelength (from one crest to the next) of 1,968 feet (600 m).

“This, combined with its 52-foot-high amplitude, makes it the largest ripple documented on Earth,” the researchers wrote in the study.

“In addition, these megaripples are at the apex of a Cretaceous/Paleogene geological boundary dating to 66 million years ago and lie beneath a layer of debris ejected after the Chicxulub impact,” the researchers wrote in the study.

– .