REVEALED: The real reason behind the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago
Here are details of the research that seems to confirm the belief shared by the majority of scientists about the fate of the dinosaurs.
Most scientists agree that an asteroid impact killed off almost all the dinosaurs and some 70 percent of all other species living on Earth about 66 million years ago. Researchers from the University of Texas claim to have found the 'final proof' that dinosaurs were indeed obliterated by a city-sized space rock.
Here are details of the research that seems to confirm the belief shared by the majority of scientists about the fate of the dinosaurs.
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin studied 900 metres of rock core samples from below the seafloor under the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico and found evidence of asteroid dust within the samples. The researchers say that this is thefinal proof' of dinosaurs being wiped out by a giant space rock.
The chemical makeup of the rock sample revealed there was a large amount of the element 'iridium' present in elevated levels in some asteroids. This element is rarely found in the earth's crust
An international team lead an exhibition to gather samples from the 150km diameter crater, underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
Levels of iridium that are 30 times greater than average have been found in the 'Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) boundary, the authors of the study explained. The layers deposited were so thick after the strike that researchers were able to precisely date the dust to a mere two decades afterwards.