[Animals] The impact of a second asteroid could be linked to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs

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The new hypothesis suggests that the second asteroid and the one that gave rise to the Chicxulub crater were released from the same celestial body.
66 million years ago an asteroid impacted the northwest of the Yucatan peninsula, thus giving rise to the Chicxulub crater. The cataclysm generated by this body initiated a mass extinction that took 75% of the species that inhabited the Earth at that time. However, this may not have been the only large rock to hit the planet. Recent findings suggest that a second asteroid may have been linked to the fatal event.

The asteroid, which has so far been linked to this extinction, is estimated to have been about 12 kilometers across. Its impact opened a depression 200 kilometers wide and caused earthquakes, tsunamis and a fire storm. In the long term, this disaster was aided by the accumulation of various materials that covered the atmosphere. This, as a consequence, brought a freezing period, from which many species failed to survive.

It may interest you: What do we know about Chicxulub, the massive asteroid that hit Yucatan and exterminated the dinosaurs

Despite this, the story may not be complete. Indeed, recently, a group of researchers found another crater, located 400 kilometers off the coast of Guinea (Africa). Due to the proportions of the body that could collide in this part of the planet, and other details of the investigation, scientists point out that there is a high probability of a second asteroid involved in the extinction of 66 million years ago. The case study has been published by the journal Science Advances.

A second asteroid could be linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs
The newly found crater has been given the name 'Nadir', after a nearby underwater volcano. The Great Depression was identified by Uisdean Nicholson, a researcher at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. This happened thanks to the registration of the area that the specialist had been doing, with the aim of looking for an ideal place to drill and continue studying the Earth's past climate changes.

«THESE SURVEYS ARE LIKE AN ULTRASOUND OF THE EARTH. I PROBABLY SPENT THE LAST 20 YEARS PERFORMING THEM, BUT I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS," NICHOLSON TOLD THE BBC.

The Nadir crater is 8.5 kilometers wide and was found more than 300 meters below the seabed. The proportions of this second asteroid appear as smaller, compared to those of the body that gave rise to the Chicxulub crater. However, the researchers indicate that the second could have caused earthquakes and tsunamis, thus adding to the devastation generated by the first.

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The new hypothesis of the scientists involved indicates that two large asteroids broke off from the same celestial body: the one from the Chicxulub crater and the one from the Nadir crater. The specialists arrived at this assumption after analyzing the geological layers adjacent to the crater of Africa. The result showed that the depression formed towards the end of the Cretaceous period, that is, approximately 66 million years ago.

What remains to be known
The meaning of this discovery can reach new horizons. Scientists could start from this new fact to know the consequences of the hit of a second asteroid. This, of course, is with a view to seeing what the Earth could suffer in the future because of this background.

"A MUCH SMALLER COUSIN, OR A SISTER, DOESN'T NECESSARILY ADD TO WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE EXTINCTION OF THE DINOSAURS, BUT IT DOES ADD TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ASTRONOMICAL EVENT THAT WAS CHICXULUB," SEAN P.S. GULICK, ONE OF THE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INVESTIGATION, TO THE BBC.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to recognize that not all scientists are equally enthusiastic about this discovery. This is the case of Michael Rampino, a geologist at New York University. This specialist mentions that this second asteroid is far from having caused a catastrophe like the one caused by Chicxulub, therefore, he considers that they cannot be given a similar importance, since the effects would not have been global.

Scientists still need to inspect the crater rocks in Africa for more concrete evidence on the matter. To approach what they propose here, then there would be new questions regarding this mass extinction. Important details remain to clarify what exactly happened 66 million years ago.

https://www.ngenespanol.com/animales/segundo-asteroide-podria-vincularse-con-la-extincion-de-los-dinosaurios/