Asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs poisoned Earth, according to research

The climate on Earth became particularly toxic after the impact of the asteroid that led to extinction of dinosaursaccording to new research.

In particular, sulfur atoms in the atmosphere confirm not only climate change but also the extinction of dinosaurs and other organisms after asteroid impact on Earth, which created the Tsixulub crater.

Sulfur aerosols have long been a major factor in climate change and the mass extinction of species from planet Earth. However, it remains unknown how much and to what extent the sulfur from the impact passes through the stratosphere, where climatic effects occur.

The effects of this terrible collision were planetary with the release of colossal amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere, the manifestation of tremendous intensity and extent of fires and the creation of the so-called nuclear winter which killed not only dinosaurs but about 80% of life on Earth. Of course, this catastrophe allowed mammals to thrive and pave the way for the appearance of humans.

In recent years, studies have been conducted to connect the puzzle of what exactly happened immediately after the conflict. Each new study offers new pieces to this puzzle and the latter gives an explanation for another question mark that exists about its effects. impact on the planet.

Prior to this collision, there had been various such collisions with space rocks at various stages of Earth’s history that caused mass extinctions of species on the planet. But compared to previous times, life after the fall of the asteroid that wiped out (and) the dinosaurs was too late to recover the environment.

A team of scientists from the universities of St. Andrews and Bristol in Britain believe they have found the answer to this mystery, according to a publication in the review of the American Academy of Sciences “PNAS”. They performed analyzes on sediments that have been certified to date from the time of the conflict. The results of their research show that the collision released much more sulfur into the atmosphere than previously thought by experts.

According to these researchers, the giant amounts of sulfur were initially launched to the stratosphere but then returned to the Earth’s surface as toxic rain poisoning both the land and the oceans. It took tens of thousands of years to clear the oceans and land to become life-friendly again.

PNAS

Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news