[Rockhounds] Iridium in undersea crater confirms asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Strong evidence that the dinosaurs were killed-off 66 million years ago by
an asteroid hitting Earth has been found in Chicxulub crater under the Gulf
of Mexico. An international team has measured an abundance of the rare
element iridium in the crater and similarly high concentrations of the
element are known to occur in sediments laid down at the time of the
Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg) extinction event, which saw many
species on Earth vanish.

Measuring 200 km across, the Chicxulub crater is believed to have been
created by an 11 km-wide asteroid crashing into Earth. The impact would
have sent vast amounts of vaporized rock into the atmosphere, blocking out
the Sun and creating a winter that could have lasted lasted several
decades. The result, scientists believe, was the mass extinction of 75% of
species on Earth including the non-flying dinosaurs.

https://physicsworld.com/a/iridium-in-undersea-crater-confirms-asteroid-wiped-out-the-dinosaurs/