Thursday 15 December 2016

Crater of Death update 2016



Scientists say they have a clue that may enable them to find traces of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs in the very crater it made on impact.
This pointer takes the form of a nickel signature in the rocks of the crater that is now buried under ocean sediments in the Gulf of Mexico.
An international team has just drilled into the 200km-wide depression.
It hopes the investigation can help explain why the event 66 million years ago was so catastrophic.
Seventy-five percent of all life, not just the dinosaurs, went extinct.
One tantalising revelation is that the scientists observe a big nickel spike in the sediments immediately above what has become known as Chicxulub Crater.
This is an important marker that could lead on to the discovery of asteroid material itself.

Old Wellie Dr Sally Morgan was part of the team on the project.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38299804


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