2023-05-02 12:53:00
In his doctoral thesis, VUB geologist Pim Kaskes takes a fresh look at the end of the dinosaurs, when the “fastest geological process ever observed” occurred, he writes.
His research starts from the crater of Chicxulub, in Mexico, where the impact between a meteorite the size of the Brussels Region and the Earth took place, “one of the worst events in the history of our planet”, explains the geologist, who received his doctorate on Wednesday. “The impact triggered abrupt climate change, responsible for the extinction of three-quarters of life on Earth, including non-flying dinosaurs,” he continues.
In just a second, “one of the worst events in the history of our planet”
The impact only lasted a second. “My doctorate begins at this crucial moment. It is hard to imagine it: a rock the size of the Brussels Region sank into the earth’s crust at the speed of a gunshot”.
The formation of the Suevi rock – the rock formed by the impact of a meteorite on Earth, editor’s note -, “normally takes up to hundreds of thousands of years, but here, it happened in a day, mainly in the minutes following the collision,” adds Kaskes.
According to the latter, the Chicxulub crater is the only place in the world where this geological process can be observed with such precision. By examining a drill core, the VUB geologist was able to reconstruct the first moments following the impact of this meteorite, some 66 million years ago.
“This impact left behind, all over the world, a layer of ejecta, that is to say materials ejected from the crater, including dust rich in iridium”, specifies the geologist. “The next step will be to analyze this same layer using new techniques in different places around the world and compare it with the results obtained in the crater. This way, we can even better understand what the dinosaurs had to endure immediately after. impact,” he concludes.
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