Scientists conclude: Space rock killed dinos

William Atkins
Saturday, 06 March 2010 02:11

Science - Space

An international group of scientists have concluded that the extinction of the dinosaurs, and much of life on Earth 65 million years ago, happened because a gigantic asteroid impacted what is now called Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula



For the past thirty or so years, scientists from around the world have debated whether an asteroid from space entered Earth's atmosphere approximately 65 million years ago'”during a time now called the Cretaceous Period'”and slammed into the Earth, killing the dinosaurs and much of Earth's life.

As conjectured by scientists, the force of the impact, from an asteroid estimated to have been about 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter, would have been great enough to cause the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and the majority of living things on Earth at that time.

The crater that resulted from the 'space rock' impacting Earth is today called the Chicxulub Crater.

The ancient 180-kilometer (110-mile) wide crater is found underneath the Yucatán Peninsula, near to the town of Chicxulub, Mexico, from which it gets its name.

According to the March 4, 2010 MSNBC article 'Rock-solid' case: Asteroid killed the dinosaurs,' the debate has been finalized, at least according to these forty-one scientists from around the world.

The MSBNC article states, 'Now, a blue-ribbon panel of scientists has banded together to support the link that ties the Chicxulub asteroid impact crater in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula to the mass extinction of dinosaurs and the majority of life on our planet 65 million years ago.'

Page two continues with comments from Dr. Kring, a scientist involved with the naming of the crater, along with research that provided evidence that lead to this conclusion.