Chixculub Crater

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Chixculub Crater

• Amanda Baker

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KT Boundary

• 65 million years ago
• Boundary in the rock record separating the
  Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods
• Corresponds to one of the greatest mass
  extinctions in history
• Global layer of clay separating the two periods
• Strikingly high iridium content in the clay

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We know it happened but where?

• A Circular geophysical anomaly, now known to
  define the Chicxulub structure, was originally
  identified on the northern edge of the Yucatan
  Peninsula during oil surveys in the 1950's. 
• Several exploratory wells, all dry, were
  subsequently drilled in and around the structure,
  which is buried beneath 1km of Tertiary
  carbonate platform sediments. 
• Two of the boreholes penetrated a crystalline
  melt rock, which was initially interpreted to be
  an extrusive andesite.

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Chixculub

• Translates to tail of the devil in Mayan
• The meteorite's estimated size was about 10 km (6
  mi) in diameter, releasing an estimated 4.31023
  joules of energy (equivalent to 191,793 gigatons
  of TNT) on impact.

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Chixculub Impact

• http//www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/Ch
  icxulub/Animation.gif

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Further Data

• Seismic, gravity and magnetic data define a
  structure 180 km in diameter.

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So much for the Bahamas
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And everything else
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And just in case you thought it was over
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References

• http//www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/Ch
  icxulub/Chicx_title.htmlstart
• http//www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/news/chicxulub1.htm
  l
• http//www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/news/chicxulub2.htm
  l
• http//www.agu.org/sci_soc/sharpton.html
• Alvarez, L. W., W. Alvarez, F. Asaro, and H. V.
  Michel, Extraterrestrial cause for the
  Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction, Science, 208,
  pages 10951008, 1980.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_Crater