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Originally Posted by Fiery Phoenix
What Nick said.
Though I'd like to add that it's probably an impact. Not an asteroid impact, however, but a comet - which is loads more effective. It's basically said to have struck the Earth at an incredible speed some 65 million years ago, killing about 70% of the living creatures that ruled the Earth back then (which were mainly the dinosaurs). The other 30% were killed off due to the huge amounts of dust caused by the impact. This dust is thought to have spread all over the sky and blocked out sunlight for weeks, resulting in the death of every living soul on Earth.
If I'm not mistaken, the comet hit an area somewhere in between North America and South America; near Mexico. And the impact still exists today.
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Fiery Phoenix. The controversey over the K/T boundary arose over the anomalous levels of iridium in the soil samples. Iridium is fairly rare in comets but far more common in asteroids prompting Luis Alvarez to suggest an asteroid impact. As the layers were worldwide and thickened towards Central America...that became the smoking gun. Oil prospectors recalled seismic evidence for a crater off the coast of Oaxaca, and it fit pretty well, prompting well deserved fame for Luis. pete
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater
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A third rate theory forbids.
A second rate theory explains after the fact.
A first rate theory predicts.
A. Lomonosov
Last edited by trinitree88; 06-July-2009 at 07:04 PM..
Reason: link
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