image source, Good pictures
- teacher, Georgina Rannard
- Author's Title, Science Correspondent, BBC News
-
A team of scientists has confirmed that the massive asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs was not alone.
A second, smaller space rock crashed into the ocean off the coast of West Africa, creating a large crater at the same time as the first.
According to the researchers, it would have been A “catastrophic event” Capable of producing a A tsunami with a height of at least 800 metersIt will cross the Atlantic Ocean.
formed a crater Nadir, It is about 450-500 m wide, and is believed to have collided with Earth at a speed of 72,000 km/h.
Dr. Uisteen Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University in Scotland discovered the Nadir Crater in 2022, but how it actually formed is unknown.
Now, Nicholson and his colleagues are convinced that the 9km-deep depression was caused by an asteroid hitting the ocean floor.
A problem for scientists They were unable to pinpoint exactly when the event occurredNor does it say whether it was before or after the asteroid impact that left the 180 km wide Chicxulub Crater in southeastern Mexico and wiped out the dinosaurs.
image source, Good pictures
Its disastrous effect
Researchers studying the African asteroid say this small rock made an impact at the end of time CretaceousWhen the dinosaurs went extinct. When it hit Earth's atmosphere, it would have formed into a fireball.
“Imagine if an asteroid hit Glasgow, you were 50km away in Edinburgh. “It would take a fireball 24 times the size of the sun in the sky to set fire to the trees and plants in Edinburgh,” explains Nicholson.
It would have been then Very strong wind blastMagnitude of a magnitude 7 earthquake before the earthquake shock.
Huge volumes of water seeped out from under the sea and then fell down, creating unique footprints on the ground.
It is unusual for two large asteroids to hit our planet in such a short space of time.
Researchers don't know why these two rocks hit Earth at such close intervals.
Can you walk again?
The closest humans have come to an event of this magnitude was the Tunguska crash in 1908, when a 50-meter-high asteroid exploded in the sky over Siberia.
Asteroid Nadir had a size of approx BennuIt is present A very dangerous near-Earth object.
According to NASA, this is the date when Bennu could collide with Earth September 24, 2182. But that's still only a 1 in 2,700 chance.
There has never been an asteroid impact of this magnitude in human history, and to understand these phenomena scientists usually have to study images of craters on Earth or craters on other planets.
image source, Good pictures
To better understand Nadir Crater, Nicholson and his team analyzed high-resolution 3D data from the Geophysical Institute, TGS.
Most craters were eroded, but this one was It was well preservedThis allowed scientists to probe deeper into rock layers.
“This is the first time we've seen the interior of an impact crater like this. It's very exciting,” says Nicholson, adding that there are only 20 such oceanic craters in the world, but None have been studied in such detail.
Their findings are published in the journal Nature Connections Earth and Environment.
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