Scientists pinpoint the moment 66 million years ago that all life was nearly wiped out!
BISMARCK, North Dakota (PNN) - March 29, 2019 - Paleontologists in North Dakota have uncovered an incredible stash of fossils that was formed instantaneously after an asteroid struck Earth nearly 66 million years ago.
Excavations revealed in amazing detail fossils of fish and other animals unable to escape the glassy fragments that plummeted from the sky caused by the thunderous impact that obliterated the dinosaurs.
The deposits also contain water, indicating a mammoth sea surge that the collision created.
University of Kansas paleontologist Robert DePalma and colleagues said the excavation site, called Tanis, offered a momentous peek into events that occurred minutes after the asteroid crashed into the planet.
“This is the first mass death assemblage of large organisms anyone has found associated with (the end of the Cretaceous Period),” said DePalma. “At no other (time) on Earth can you find such a collection consisting of a large number of species representing different ages of organisms and different stages of life, all of which died at the same time, on the same day.”
This graveyard, of sorts, is a mashup of dead fish, microorganisms, scorched tree trunks, and even the partial corpse of a Triceratops.
When the asteroid, believed to be about 8 miles wide, splashed into the Gulf of Mexico, it tossed billions of tons of vaporized rock into the sky in every direction across thousands of miles.
At the dig site, fossils record the moment bead-sized balls known as tektites were ingested by creatures, including fish, which had the debris embedded in their gills.
