A 2020 study published in Nature Communications revealed that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was about 12 kilometers in diameter and traveling about 43,000 km/h and creating a crater 200 km wide.
Research professor from the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics Sean Gulick estimates that the impact of the impact vaporized the evaporite rock, sending 325 gigatons of sulfur in the form of sulfur aerosols, as well as 435 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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The collision also triggered big tsunami , shallow water waves that propagate through Earth’s oceans. The initial waves reached a tsunami as high as 1.5 km with a speed of 143 km/hour. Another wave with a height of 15 meters occurred in the Atlantic Ocean and 4 meters in the North Pacific Ocean.
What’s more, evidence of deposition from large waves is preserved in the sediment records around Louisiana. A geological 3D seismic survey beneath Louisiana revealed a 16 meter high asymmetrical mega ripple that headed back to the impact site in the Gulf.
Crushed rock and ash flowing back to the surface after the impact also sparked a series of forest fires. The additional smoke and ash likely contributed to the cooling shroud preventing sunlight from entering the earth and creating long winters.
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Gulick believes the main problem after the collision was the extreme atmospheric changes. The hideous veil kept the winter from lasting for more than a decade.
“The only way to create events mass extinction is screwing up something that affects the entire planet. Here you have direct evidence of that happening,” he said Live Science.
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