ANIEL BUENOGraphic representation of the Campeche Escarpment, in Mexico: signs of the meteorite crash from 65 million years agoANIEL BUENO
An underwater cliff in the Gulf of Mexico apparently hides remnants of the meteor impact that is believed to have brought the mass extinction of plants and animals some 65 million years ago. Using sonar images captured on an oceanographic research vessel, scientists from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the Yucatán Center for Scientific Research (CICY), working under the coordination of Charlie Paul, of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), have created a detailed map of an underwater cliff that is four kilometers deep and 600 kilometers long and lies close to where the meteorite fell, in the Yucatan Peninsula. The researchers believe that the sediment accumulated on the rocks may hold the records of phenomena like the dust cloud that appeared following the meteorite’s collision with Earth. According to these researchers, the rocks that formed before, during, and after the impact lie exposed along the edges of this undersea cliff, which is also known as the Campeche Escarpment. The images can now be found on Google Maps and Google Earth. The results of this mapping were presented at the December 2013 meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), held in San Francisco.
Republish