If the asteroid had struck at another time, dinosaurs might have stood a chance, say scientists.
In a new BBC documentary entitled, “The Day the Dinosaurs Died”, scientists claim that if the asteroid that led to the extinction of dinosaurs had struck in another place or another time, those magnificent beasts might be still around. In fact, if it had made contact 30 seconds later or earlier, it would have hit the much deeper Atlantic or Pacific Oceans instead of the shallow Gulf of Mexico, and the world would have been a very different place today.
Only a Few Miles or Another Time Might Have Saved the Dinosaurs
The shallow Gulf vaporized much more quickly than either of the oceans would have. Its results were a vast cloud of 100 billion tons of vaporized sulfur. The resulting artificial winter lasted more than a decade. It wiped out vast forests, the primary food source for most giant herbivores. Once these were gone, the carnivores soon followed.Prof. Ben Garrod is one of the presenters of the BBC special. He recently released a statement for the promotion of the documentary’s premiere.
“It wasn’t the size of the asteroid, the scale of blast, or even its global reach that made dinosaurs extinct–it was where the impact happened,” he said.
Garrod also pointed out that the global “lights out” led to an almost immediate response. Temperatures at a worldwide level dropped by over 50 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of days.
This asteroid itself is estimated to have been about nine miles wide. The hole it left in our planet is around twenty miles deep and 111 miles long, located just off of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. This impact likely melted the very rock of the Earth’s crust, and the asteroid itself sank into the mantle.Even though it pretty much destroyed one of the most impressive species to exist on our planet, the timing might be said to be good for humanity and mammals. For if the asteroid had struck in another place or another time, the dinosaurs might still be around, and we might well not be.
Image Source: Wikimedia
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