Tag

Asteroid Impact

All articles tagged with #asteroid impact

science4 days ago•120 min saved

Ames Crater Re-dated to 370 Million Years Ago, Linking It to a Major Mass Extinction

A team from the University of Texas at Austin has determined that the Ames meteor impact crater in Oklahoma is approximately 100 million years younger than previously thought. New zircon crystal dating places the impact at 370 million years ago, aligning it with the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian mass extinction rather than the older Ordovician Meteor Event. This reclassification removes the crater from a proposed global asteroid ring theory and links it to a period of severe marine life loss, potentially influencing theories on whether extraterrestrial impacts or volcanic activity drove major extinctions.

via Space|

#asteroid-impact #geology #mass-extinction

space1 month ago•5 min saved

Deimos’s Deep Past: New Simulations Point to an Ancient Asteroid Impact

New Nature Astronomy research using Bern SPH simulations suggests Deimos’ surface was sculpted by a roughly 320-meter asteroid impact at a 45-degree angle, producing a southern polar depression and a thick regolith layer; the study fuels ongoing debates about Mars’ moons’ origins (captured asteroids, split comets, or other scenarios) while noting that solar wind–driven electrostatic shocks could pose challenges for future missions.

via Futura, le média qui explore le monde|

#asteroid-impact #deimos #mars

science1 month ago•204 min saved

A single asteroid may have carved Mars' moon Deimos

A new study using Hera flyby data and impact simulations suggests Deimos’ smooth, dusty surface and its 6.2‑mile southern crater were produced by one asteroid about 320 meters across at a ~45° angle, redistributing surface material globally without shattering the moon. This supports Deimos as a porous rubble-pile object and helps explain its origin, while Japan’s MMX mission (launching soon) will study both Deimos and Phobos to test the model and uncover the moons’ history.

via CNN|

#asteroid-impact #deimos #hera-mission

space-and-spaceflight3 months ago•16 min saved

Inside-Out Nukes: A New Plan to Stop Large Asteroids

Chinese researchers propose using a nuclear blast to destroy or rapidly deflect a large asteroid by carving a crater and detonating a warhead inside; their models favor a pre-excavation detonation for deep energy transfer, potentially making this approach more effective than surface-only hits for rocks around 100 meters in size and offering two defense modes: direct-impact detonation and pre-excavation detonation.

via Gizmodo|

#asteroid-impact #asteroids #nuclear-detonation

science3 months ago•5 min saved

North Sea's Hidden Crater Revealed: 160-Meter Asteroid Triggered 330-Foot Tsunami

Researchers confirm the Silverpit Crater beneath the southern North Sea was formed by a hypervelocity asteroid or comet about 43–46 million years ago. Using advanced seismic imaging and rock samples with shocked minerals, scientists show a ~160-meter-wide impactor struck at a shallow angle, producing a 1.5-kilometer-high curtain of rock and water that collapsed into a tsunami over 330 feet tall. The finding resolves a two-decade-long debate and places Silverpit among Earth's rare, well-preserved underwater impact craters.

via ScienceDaily|

#asteroid-impact #north-sea #science

space3 months ago•98 min saved

Earth’s oldest asteroid impact found in Australia, dated at 3.02 billion years ago

Dating of zircon crystals in rocks at the Miralga Impact Structure (North Pole Dome) in Western Australia places the asteroid impact at about 3.02 billion years ago, making it the oldest known Earth impact site and linking the event to the Late Heavy Bombardment era while shedding light on early crust formation and nearby signs of ancient life.

via Space|

#asteroid-impact #australia #earth-history

science4 months ago•11 min saved

When the sky became a weapon: the long aftershocks of the Chicxulub impact

The Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago released molten debris that heated the upper atmosphere and sulfur- and soot-rich aerosols that blocked sunlight for years, triggering a drastic cooling that collapsed photosynthesis and reshaped life on Earth; while fires may have started in some regions, debates continue about how much the global die-off was due to heat, dust, or smoke, with survivors mainly among small, burrowing or detritus-eating species.

via Space Daily|

#asteroid-impact #chicxulub #climate-cooling

science4 months ago•10 min saved

Pre-Impact Fungal Bloom Signals Earlier Ecological Stress Before Dinosaur Extinction

A Johns Hopkins study published in PNAS reports a pre-impact spike in fungal microfossils dating to roughly 30,000–10,000 years before the Chicxulub impact, coinciding with the Deccan Traps volcanic phase in India and suggesting the biosphere was already undergoing ecological stress before the asteroid strike, while a later, global fungal bloom after the impact supports widespread collapse and reinforces that the asteroid was the proximate extinction driver.

via Space Daily|

#asteroid-impact #deccan-traps #dinosaurs

science4 months ago•11 min saved

End-Cretaceous Extinction Hinged on Ground Beneath Chicxulub

New modeling suggests the Chicxulub impact's global killing power hinged on striking hydrocarbon-rich, sulfur-bearing coastal rocks. The study estimates such geology could generate enough stratospheric soot to trigger 8–11°C global cooling, a major driver of the mass extinction, whereas rocks with lower hydrocarbon content would have caused milder effects. The claim is model-based and contingent on late-Cretaceous geology and the impact angle, and while it fits with related research, it remains not a settled consensus.

via Space Daily|

#asteroid-impact #chicxulub #climate-change

science4 months ago•7 min saved

Ancient Stromatolites Found in Crater Hint at Hydrothermal Cradle for Life

South Korean researchers report finding 10–20 cm stromatolites beneath the Jeokjung-Chogye Basin crater, formed by a ~42,000-year-old asteroid impact, in a hydrothermal lake environment that could have supported microbial life. Mineral signatures including europium indicate hot-water conditions, with radiocarbon dating placing formation between ~23,400 and ~14,600 years ago. The discovery suggests impact craters may have provided transient habitats that contributed to early Earth oxygenation, though more research is needed and similar craters should be studied.

via ScienceAlert|

#asteroid-impact #early-earth #hydrothermal

science5 months ago•14 min saved

A front-row account of the dinosaur-ending asteroid impact

The article guides readers through a vivid timeline of the 66-million-year-old asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs. It describes the instantaneous fireball, shock waves, and vaporized rocks, followed by megatsunamis, global fires, thick dust, and a prolonged ‘nuclear-winter’ like atmosphere that plunged Earth into darkness and freezing temperatures. Over the next year to decade, ecosystems collapse and mass extinctions unfold, with evidence from iridium-rich layers and the Chicxulub crater confirming the catastrophe. Eventually life recovers in new configurations, enabling mammals to rise in the long aftermath.

via The Conversation|

#asteroid-impact #chicxulub-crater #cretaceous-paleogene

space5 months ago•73 min saved

Dante’s Inferno May Foreshadow Asteroid Impacts, Geomythology Suggests

A medieval scholar argues that Dante’s Inferno describes a massive, space-style impact—Lucifer’s fall and the Earth’s upheaval—that reshapes the southern hemisphere, suggesting an early, geomythological glimpse of asteroid/comet impacts.

via Space|

#asteroid-impact #dantes-inferno #divine-comedy

science7 months ago•4 min saved

Ancient North Sea asteroid sparked a colossal 100-meter tsunami

Researchers confirm that the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea was formed by a 160-meter-wide asteroid about 43–46 million years ago, triggering a tsunami over 100 meters tall and blasting a 1.5-km-high plume of rock and water. Using advanced seismic imaging and analyses of shocked minerals, the study resolves the crater’s origin as an asteroid impact and highlights the rare preservation of an oceanic impact site.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#asteroid-impact #nature-communications #science

science7 months ago•3 min saved

Ancient North Sea asteroid crash unleashed a 100m tsunami, study says

New seismic data and rock fragments confirm the Silverpit feature beneath the southern North Sea is an impact crater formed by a ~160-meter asteroid striking at a shallow angle about 43–46 million years ago, which generated a tsunami over 100 meters high. The findings resolve a long-running debate and place Silverpit among Earth's rare preserved submerged craters, alongside Chicxulub and Nadir.

via ScienceDaily|

#asteroid-impact #north-sea #science

science8 months ago•4 min saved

New Study Reframes the End of Dinosaurs: Thriving, Not Fading

A Science study finds dinosaurs were flourishing in diverse ecosystems up to the 66-million-year asteroid impact, overturning the idea of a slow pre-extinction decline; fossil evidence from New Mexico and elsewhere shows regional bioprovinces and thriving dinosaur communities, with mammals later rebounding while geographic patterns persisted into the Paleocene.

via Indian Defence Review|

#asteroid-impact #biogeography #dinosaurs