6-Mile Asteroid Triggered 2.5-Mile Megatsunami 66 Million Years Ago, Wiping Out Dinosaurs
Updated
Updated · Fox Weather · May 27
6-Mile Asteroid Triggered 2.5-Mile Megatsunami 66 Million Years Ago, Wiping Out Dinosaurs
5 articles · Updated · Fox Weather · May 27
A six-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the Caribbean region 66 million years ago, generating a megatsunami with waves up to 2.5 miles high and helping drive the dinosaur extinction.
The impact hit at 58 times the speed of sound and released about 100 teratons of TNT, vaporizing nearby life, carving a crater at least 115 miles wide and unleashing fire, hurricane-force winds and earthquakes.
Within hours to a week, dust and soot darkened the planet, temperatures plunged, and acid rain with pH near 1 fell globally, killing plants, shallow marine life and most remaining dinosaurs.
A year later, temperatures were still about 60 degrees below pre-impact levels; after a decade they remained roughly 41 degrees lower, leaving mainly burrowing, underwater or small adaptable species alive.
Birds, turtles, small crocodiles, lizards, snakes and mammals were among the survivors that later repopulated Earth, reshaping ecosystems and opening the evolutionary path that eventually favored primates.
Did more than one asteroid impact kill the dinosaurs, with a second crater now discovered under the Atlantic?
We can now deflect asteroids, but are our defenses ready for a threat that is too big or too close to stop?
Chicxulub’s Mile-High Megatsunami: The Asteroid Impact That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs and Changed Earth’s Future
Overview
The Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago, caused by a massive nine-mile-wide asteroid, triggered a catastrophic chain of events. This impact not only led to the mass extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs and three-quarters of Earth's species, but also unleashed a colossal megatsunami with waves over a mile high. Recent breakthroughs, including the first global simulation using advanced models, have revealed how the ocean's surface rippled with immense energy, with the megatsunami subsiding after 48 hours. These findings, strongly supported by geological evidence, deepen our understanding of how a single impact reshaped life on Earth.