The asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaur species also triggered a massive global tsunami. Here’s all about the groundbreaking study.
All about the dinosaur-wiping asteroid
A study reveals that the dinosaur-wiping asteroid caused a massive global tsunami. The humungous tsunami started from the Gulf of Mexico and covered over half the earth, reaching New Zealand. Moreover, it is behind the mass extinction of 75 percent of the plant and animal life on Earth.
Researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed cores from over 100 sites across the globe. Additionally, they created digital models of the monstrous waves from the tsunami as a result of the ‘Chicxulub’ asteroid impactor in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The models are speculating the asteroid to be an 8.7 miles wide body with a speed of 27,000 miles per hour. The energy from the impact is covered 100,000 times that of the Tonga volcano eruption this year.
More on the study
As per the study, the impact of the tsunami was over 30,000 times that of the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004. The tsunami is one of the largest ever on record and took over 230,000 lives. “This tsunami was strong enough to disturb and erode sediments in ocean basins halfway around the globe,” stated Molly Range. Ms. Range is the lead author of the study.
The modeling was conducted as a part of a master’s thesis at the University of Michigan’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. It is the first global stimulation of the tsunami caused due to the Chicxulub impact. The study was also presented at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in 2019. “We also feel these deposits are recording the effects of the impact of the tsunami. And this is perhaps the most telling confirmation of the global significance of this event,” added Range.
