Although great amounts of ash suggest that most of North and South America was devastated by fire from the impact, the longer-term environmental effects of the impact were ultimately more deadly to any life forms than the fire. Dust blocked sunlight from the earth's surface for many months. Burned sulfur from the impact site, water vapor and chlorine from the oceans, and nitrogen from the air combined to produce worldwide fallout of intensely acidic rain. Scientists postulate that darkness and acid rain caused plant growth to die. As a result, both the herbivorous dinosaurs, which were dependent on plants for food, as well as the carnivorous dinosaurs, which fed on the herbivores, died out. On the other hand, animals such as frogs, lizards, and small insect-eating turtles and mammals, which were dependent on organisms that fed on decaying plant material, were more likely to live. Their survival indicates that, in most areas, the surface of the earth did not freeze.
How could a giant impact cause extinction?.
Walter Alvarez has written a vivid personal account of one of the most important recent discoveries in geology and paleontology. In the mid-1970s, while investigating the geological origins of the Apennine Mountains in Italy, he discovered a layer of clay. This boundary marks the time when dinosaurs and many other organisms became extinct, so Alvarez and his collaborators began investigating the clay for clues as to what might have happened. They found that the clay contains an unusually high amount of iridium, more typical of asteroids and comets. This led to the hypothesis that an asteroid might have hit the earth 65 million years ago and caused the mass extinction, a hypothesis that has received considerable empirical support. .
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The discovery of the centimeter-thick layer of clay at the boundary was also opportune. Alvarez found a thin layer of fossil-free clay between the last limestone bed and the first limestone bed.
The hotel will also have a science lab to research asteroids, but this lab will be hidden from all guests. The scientists will research asteroids to get additional information on them near the asteroid belt. ... Power Source On the Asteroid Hotel the power will be supplied by big solar panels, which would supply all our energy. ... Air in Space The Asteroid Hotel has a source of oxygen for all guests and crew to breathe and removes carbon dioxide, which the crew and guests exhale. ... Exercising is very important when on the Asteroid Hotel, it is for your own health to do exercise. ...
Their theories should not have been published without months, maybe years of lose observation of the asteroid and its orbit. A closer investigation of the asteroid showed that there was no chance at all that the asteroid would collide with the earth. If the astronomers had waited to further investigate their "discovery," they would have known that there were pictures of the asteroid taken in 1990, pictures which provided hard evidence that the asteroid would in fact not collide with the earth. ... It seemed my brother did not really care about the possible threat of an asteroid colliding w...
Their theories should not have been published without months, maybe years of lose observation of the asteroid and its orbit. A closer investigation of the asteroid showed that there was no chance at all that the asteroid would collide with the earth. If the astronomers had waited to further investigate their "discovery," they would have known that there were pictures of the asteroid taken in 1990, pictures which provided hard evidence that the asteroid would in fact not collide with the earth. ... It seemed my brother did not really care about the possible threat of an asteroid colliding w...
Eventually, one of these asteroids will make contact with the land on earth. It is possible that man could deal with an asteroid. ... Each comet or asteroid must be dealt with in an individualistic manner. ... The asteroid was not large and would have not done much damage, if it had hit the earth. ... It is obvious that a giant crater or asteroid hit the earth, and wiped out the dinosaurs. ...
If Asteroid 2002 EM7 would have pierced the atmosphere, the seventy meter long asteroid could have disintegrated and unleashed the energy of a four megaton nuclear bomb. ... The asteroid, called 1999 AN10, will be closely watched over the years (The Looming Threat 1). It is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for an asteroid to completely destroy the planet Earth. The Earth is many times larger than the biggest asteroid and is capable of absorbing huge shocks. ... In 1908, an asteroid rocked the grounds of the Siberian forest. ...
Not everything ran as smooth as planned, as the pictures taken by the space craft became blurry as it approached the asteroid. ... At that point it was looking very doubtful that the craft would be able to get near the asteroid. ... They did that in the very nick of time but they now had to worry about colliding Deep Space 1" with the asteroid itself. ... As a consolation prize, Deep Space 1 took a parting shot of the asteroid as it was heading away from it. ... Comet Borrelly Immediately after the flyby of asteroid Braille, Deep Space 1 was given a new objective. ...