Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Sunday June 20 2021, @02:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-are-alive-in-spite-of-nature dept.

Second Space Rock Struck Earth After the One That Killed the Dinosaurs:

About 66 million years ago, Earth took a one-two punch, according to a new study.

First came a space rock 6-miles-wide that struck present-day Mexico. The impactor, named Chicxulub, contributed to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with 50% to 75% of life on Earth.

Then, 650,000 years later, a mile-sized asteroid known as Boltysh struck. The rock carved out a 15-mile-wide crater into what is now central Ukraine.

Scientists once thought both Boltysh and Chicxulub contributed to the mass extinction that doomed the dinosaurs. But according to the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances, Boltysh likely impacted Earth long after the last victims of the extinction died out.

[...] While it's unlikely Boltysh exacerbated the die-off, Pickersgill said the second impact may have delayed Earth's recovery from the catastrophic extinction.

Journal Reference:
Annemarie E. Pickersgill, Darren F. Mark, Martin R. Lee, et al. The Boltysh impact structure: An early Danian impact event during recovery from the K-Pg mass extinction [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe6530)


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday June 20 2021, @03:32PM (1 child)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Sunday June 20 2021, @03:32PM (#1147506)

    Calling 2 asteroid strikes 650,000 years apart a one-two punch might be a bit of a stretch, even considering geological timescales.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by looorg on Sunday June 20 2021, @03:35PM

      by looorg (578) on Sunday June 20 2021, @03:35PM (#1147508)

      The universe just operates on a different sense of time then us. Still it's a bit to long for it to have been some divine or astronomical coup de grace for the dinos.

  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @04:25PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @04:25PM (#1147515)

    Terrorists have learned that lesson. Bomb a marketplace, or whatever. Wait 1/2 hour or so, bomb it again to get all the first responders. Bonus points for third strike to get the second wave of emergency personnel.

    • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @06:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @06:23PM (#1147533)

      Speaking of terrorists, don't Muslims worship a black meteorite stone set into their Holy Cube in Mecca? If so, that meteorite is responsible for the extinction of a bunch of nonbelievers.

    • (Score: 2) by driverless on Monday June 21 2021, @05:47AM

      by driverless (4770) on Monday June 21 2021, @05:47AM (#1147610)

      I'm not sure if this was deliberate or not, but you've just described the strategy used in the Allied bombing campaign during WWII.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @04:26PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 20 2021, @04:26PM (#1147516)

    The mere 15 miles do not even put Boltysh in the top ten (or top 30, for that matter).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_craters_on_Earth [wikipedia.org]
    https://theverybesttop10.com/largest-meteorite-craters/ [theverybesttop10.com]

    Some much larger things hit Earth since then, with nothing much to link with any but the largest of them.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popigai_crater [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montagnais_crater [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_impact_crater [wikipedia.org]

    A few things of similar size to Boltysh hit the planet in the times of Homo Erectus, even.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_strewnfield [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhamanshin_crater [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Elgygytgyn [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Sunday June 20 2021, @11:08PM (3 children)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 20 2021, @11:08PM (#1147562) Journal

      Even the Chicxulub wouldn't have been so momentous if it hadn't hit in shallow water. Strikes on land tend to be highly localized in their effects. Strikes in deep water need to HUGE to even be noticed. Strikes in shallow water result in immense clouds of steam that spreads things all over the planet (if it's large enough).

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 22 2021, @04:20AM (2 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 22 2021, @04:20AM (#1147928) Journal

        Strikes in deep water need to HUGE to even be noticed.

        This one was HUGE. It would have hit bedrock even in deep ocean.

        • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday June 22 2021, @01:30PM (1 child)

          by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 22 2021, @01:30PM (#1147994) Journal

          Yes, and there would have been huge tsunami. But how much steam/rock fragments would have reached the surface? I don't even know how to guesstimate that.

          --
          Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
          • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday June 22 2021, @02:52PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 22 2021, @02:52PM (#1148020) Journal

            But how much steam/rock fragments would have reached the surface?

            More steam, a little less rock fragments. The climate change version alleges that the most serious harm was from the limestone that was vaporized, dumping a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere which wouldn't have been present in deep ocean (it's mostly igneous rock). YMMV.

  • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:51PM (2 children)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Sunday June 20 2021, @05:51PM (#1147527)

    > to the mass extinction that doomed the dinosaurs

    There have been several mass extinction events...

    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday June 20 2021, @06:21PM

      by mhajicek (51) on Sunday June 20 2021, @06:21PM (#1147531)

      This is more of a mass x velocity squared extinction event.

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 22 2021, @03:13PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 22 2021, @03:13PM (#1148030)

      I'm confused at how you are confused, they specified, in your quoted text which mass extinction event:

      The one that doomed the dinosaurs.

(1)