New Evidence about the Impact that killed the Dinosaurs

[sheeny]

The prevailing hypothesis for the extinction of the dinosaurs was the impact of an asteroid at Chicxulub in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous period which caused world wide fires.

The evidence for the fires was a global layer of soot in rocks of that age, but no charcoal have ever been found in this layer. Gas chromatography was used to determine the source of the soot, now suggested to be oil and/or gas rather than vegetation. More here from Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090223/full/news.2009.112.html

Al.

[renormalised]

Interesting read, Al. I might go hunt for the paper....it'll be interesting to see what their results are and how they tie them into the impact scenario. As they say not all PAH's are created equally, but they also forget that they can change over time....especially in a sedimentary env' such as where the crater is.

[astroron]

Thanks Sheeny, a very interesting read:)
It will be interesting to follow this story in the coming years:thumbsup: