The mystery of the extinction of the dinosaurs: How many meteorites hit the earth 60 million years ago?

 

66 million years ago, a meteor from space crashed toward Earth and crashed in what is now the Gulf of Mexico, killing the dinosaurs.  Were there other meteors that accompanied the meteorite that hit Earth?

 On the day the earth was hit by a huge meteorite, did more than one meteorite fall to the earth?

 These doubts arise from the discovery of a second massive impact crater on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and that crater also appeared in the same age.

 The meteorite that caused that impact wasn't as massive as the one we already know caused the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, but it was still large enough to have a catastrophic impact.

Called Nadir Crater, it is located at a depth of 300 meters on the seafloor 400 kilometers off the coast of Guinea in West Africa.

 The crater is 8.5 kilometers in diameter and may have been formed by the impact of a small meteorite less than 500 meters in diameter.

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Dr. Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, found the hidden depression.

 He is analyzing geological survey data to better understand past climate changes on Earth.

 These surveys, usually obtained during oil and gas exploration campaigns, document different layers of subterranean rocks and sediments, usually several kilometers below the surface.

 "This survey is like an ultrasound of the Earth," he told the BBC. "I've been trying to interpret the data for probably the last 20 years, but I've never seen anything like it."

"The shape of Nadir's crater shows the effect of a meteorite impact. The rims bulge around the central zone, and the fractosphere extends outward."

 The meteorite that formed Chicxulub crater is estimated to have a diameter of 12 kilometers.  The meteorite impacted the ground to create a 200-kilometer-wide shock pressure zone, a process that was accompanied by massive Earthquakes, tsunamis and global firestorms.  A lot of dusty material was scattered into the air, causing the Earth to enter a deep freeze.  Dinosaurs couldn't withstand this climatic upheaval.

 By contrast, the impact of the meteorite that caused Nadir crater was much smaller.

 Dr Veronica Bray of the University of Arizona explained, "This shock can cause a tsunami of up to a kilometer, and an earthquake of around magnitude 6.5."

 "The power unleashed by the shock is more than a thousand times greater than the volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga in January 2022."

Chicxulub crater in Mexico is more than 10 million times more powerful.

 A 12-kilometer-wide object struck a crater 100 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers deep

 The impact crater then collapsed, leaving a crater 200 kilometers wide and several kilometers deep

 Now, the crater is mostly submerged underwater, with 600 meters of sediment on it

 On the land part, the crater is covered with limestone, but the rim of the crater has a subsidence

 Researchers recently drilled geological samples at this crater to study the composition of the crater

Dr. Nicholson's team was cautious about linking the two craters.

 Based on an analysis of known-aged fossils extracted from nearby holes, Nadir is believed to be close to the age of Chicxulub.  But to make a conclusion, the rocks in the crater need to be taken out and analyzed.  This confirms that Nadir is a geological structure formed by a meteorite impact, rather than other unrelated structures such as ancient volcanic eruptions.

 The idea that Earth might have been hit by a swarm of giant interstellar meteorites in the past isn't something that's new today.

 There has been speculation that the Boltysh crater in Ukraine was also caused by an extraterrestrial impact and may be related in some way to Chicxulub.  The age difference between the formation of the two craters is not large.

Sean Gulick, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who recently played a major role in the drill-to-prototype project at Chicxulub, said the formation of Nadir crater  The reason may be an impact from an extraterrestrial object on the same day.  Or the shock could have struck a million or two million years after the shock on the Mexican side.  The firm's conclusions can only be reached after the researchers analyzed the crater rocks in West Africa in the laboratory.