Urrutia-Fucugauchi, Jaime et al. (2011): Discovery and focused study of the Chicxulub impact crater

Leg/Site/Hole:
Identifier:
2012-004775
georefid

10.1029/2011EO250001
doi

Creator:
Urrutia-Fucugauchi, Jaime
Proyecto Universitario de Perforaciones en Oceanos y Continentes, Instituto de Geofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
author

Camargo-Zanoguera, Antonio
Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico
author

Perez-Cruz, Ligia
author

Identification:
Discovery and focused study of the Chicxulub impact crater
2011
Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, United States
92
25
209-210
Three decades ago a landmark paper by Alvarez et al. (1980) proposed that an asteroid impact 65.5 million years ago was the cause of the mass extinction of about 75% of species, including the dinosaurs, at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods (K-Pg), formerly known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. Alvarez et al. used geochemical studies on carbonate sequences from Italy, Denmark, and New Zealand to study the boundary layer, which was enriched in iridium and other platinum group elements (PGEs) at concentrations well above background levels. They associated these enrichments with the collision of an asteroid that injected large amounts of pulverized debris into the atmosphere, resulting in blockage of solar radiation, global cooling, and a shutdown of photosynthesis.
English
Serial
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:23.0000
West:-92.0000East: -86.0000
South:18.0000

Geomorphology; Atlantic Ocean; bolides; breccia; buried features; carbonate platforms; Cenozoic; Chicxulub Crater; Cretaceous; drilling; ejecta; geophysical surveys; gravity anomalies; Gulf of Mexico; impact breccia; impact craters; impact features; impact melts; impactites; International Continental Scientific Drilling Program; iridium; K-T boundary; lower Paleocene; magnetic anomalies; mass extinctions; melts; Mesozoic; metals; metamorphic rocks; metamorphism; meteors; Mexico; North Atlantic; numerical models; Ocean Drilling Program; Paleocene; Paleogene; platinum group; shock metamorphism; stratigraphic boundary; surveys; Tertiary; Upper Cretaceous; Yucatan Peninsula;

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