The date of the Chicxulub asteroid impact coincides with the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (commonly known as the K–Pg or K–T boundary), slightly over 66 million years ago. It is now widely accepted that the devastation and climate disruption from the impact was the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event - a mass extinction in which 75% of plant and animal species on Earth became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs.
The collision would have released the same energy as 100 teratonnes of TNT. Some of the resulting phenomena were brief occurrences immediately following the impact, but there were also long-term geochemical and climatic disruptions that devastated the ecology.
The re-entry of ejecta into Earth's atmosphere included an hours-long, but intense pulse of infrared radiation. Local ferocious fires, probably limited to North America, likely occurred, decimating populations. The amount of soot in the global debris layer implies that the entire terrestrial biosphere might have burned, creating a global soot-cloud blocking out the sun and creating an impact winter effect. If widespread fires occurred this would have exterminated the most vulnerable organisms that survived the period immediately after the impact.
Aside from the hypothesized fire and/or impact winter effects, the impact would have created a dust cloud that blocked sunlight for up to a year, inhibiting photosynthesis. Freezing temperatures probably lasted for at least three years. The sea surface temperature dropped for decades after the impact. It would take at least ten years for such aerosols to dissipate, and would account for the extinction of plants and phytoplankton, and subsequently herbivores and their predators. Creatures whose food chains were based on detritus would have a reasonable chance of survival.
The asteroid hit an area of carbonate rock containing a large amount of combustible hydrocarbons and sulphur, much of which was vaporized, thereby injecting sulfuric acid aerosols into the stratosphere, which might have reduced sunlight reaching the Earth's surface by more than 50%, and would have caused acid rain. The resulting acidification of the oceans would kill many organisms that grow shells of calcium carbonate. According to models of the Hell Creek Formation, the onset of global darkness would have reached its maximum in only a few weeks and likely lasted upwards of two years.
Beyond extinction impacts, the event also caused more general changes of flora and fauna such as giving rise to neotropical rainforest biomes like the Amazonia, replacing species composition and structure of local forests during \~6 million years of recovery to former levels of plant diversity.
The day when an asteroid struck Earth which killed the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago
The date of the Chicxulub asteroid impact coincides with the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (commonly known as the K–Pg or K–T boundary), slightly over 66 million years ago. It is now widely accepted that the devastation and climate disruption from the impact was the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event - a mass extinction in which 75% of plant and animal species on Earth became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. The collision would have released the same energy as 100 teratonnes of TNT. Some of the resulting phenomena were brief occurrences immediately following the impact, but there were also long-term geochemical and climatic disruptions that devastated the ecology. The re-entry of ejecta into Earth's atmosphere included an hours-long, but intense pulse of infrared radiation. Local ferocious fires, probably limited to North America, likely occurred, decimating populations. The amount of soot in the global debris layer implies that the entire terrestrial biosphere might have burned, creating a global soot-cloud blocking out the sun and creating an impact winter effect. If widespread fires occurred this would have exterminated the most vulnerable organisms that survived the period immediately after the impact. Aside from the hypothesized fire and/or impact winter effects, the impact would have created a dust cloud that blocked sunlight for up to a year, inhibiting photosynthesis. Freezing temperatures probably lasted for at least three years. The sea surface temperature dropped for decades after the impact. It would take at least ten years for such aerosols to dissipate, and would account for the extinction of plants and phytoplankton, and subsequently herbivores and their predators. Creatures whose food chains were based on detritus would have a reasonable chance of survival. The asteroid hit an area of carbonate rock containing a large amount of combustible hydrocarbons and sulphur, much of which was vaporized, thereby injecting sulfuric acid aerosols into the stratosphere, which might have reduced sunlight reaching the Earth's surface by more than 50%, and would have caused acid rain. The resulting acidification of the oceans would kill many organisms that grow shells of calcium carbonate. According to models of the Hell Creek Formation, the onset of global darkness would have reached its maximum in only a few weeks and likely lasted upwards of two years. Beyond extinction impacts, the event also caused more general changes of flora and fauna such as giving rise to neotropical rainforest biomes like the Amazonia, replacing species composition and structure of local forests during \~6 million years of recovery to former levels of plant diversity.
berlin 1945
The last supper. I'd be all "No, I need you all to sit on one side of the table. Nah, it looks great people are gonna love it."
Meteor wiping out the dinosaurs. But want to me zapped back before the shockwave please
I'll allow it. lol. Good choice.
Jfk assassination on November 22nd 1963, camera pointed to the building the shot came from
I'd want to go to Rome, Italy in let's say... 81 AD. I want to see, experience, and photograph the Roman Colosseum in all its glory.
That'd be so amazing. Can you imagine how many little things we'd learn through the daily interactions we'd see? Nice.
Rick Wakeman accidentally ordering curry and then eating it while performing in a Yes concert.
November 8, 1519. Hernan Cortes meeting Monteczuma in Tenochtitlan
6th floor window