The Impact Crater in Mexico which Wiped out the Dinosaurs; Chicxulub Crater

The largest impact crater on the planet to form in the last 1 billion years is located on the Yucatan Peninsula. Known as the Chicxulub Crater, it measures 180 kilometers or 110 miles wide. Its formation caused the extinction of the non avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago, causing a long term impact winter. If not for this ancient event, the dominant life forms on the planet would still be giant reptiles. This video will discuss this massive impact crater and how it formed.
Thumbnail Photo Credit: Google Earth, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, Image Landsat / Copernicus, Data LDEO-Columbia, NSF, NOAA
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Graphics of eruption dates are courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institute. volcano.si.edu/
0:00 Late Cretaceous Period
0:31 K-Pg Mass Extinction
0:44 Evidence of an Asteroid Impact
2:37 The Impact Occurs
3:11 Shockwave Effects
3:39 Impact Winter
Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Contributors
Citations:
[1] G. Collins & others, "A numerical assessment of simple airblast models of impact...", Meteoritics & Planetary Science, doi.org/10.1111/maps.12873 (2017), CC BY 4.0
Creative Commons License:
CC BY 4.0: creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@zackakai5173]

I don't think I ever realized it would take so long for the region to have cooled post-impact. Basically the planet had a big "No Fun Zone" for a few tens of thousands of years

[@Mr.Thermistor7228]

Geology time is mind-boggling

[@Dragrath1]

It depends on your definition of a no fun zone as while the region was geothermally active for a significant amount of time after the impact (tens of thousands of years) fossil evidence shows that quite soon after the impact this region developed into a important ecological oasis fueled by chemosynthetic bacteria back during the time period where most phytoplankton were unable to support marine ecosystems. In effect the Impact crater became a sanctuary for marine life from the deep impact winter getting life through the disaster with hardy extremophiles having begun to colonize the crater less than a year after the impact.

[@hunterG60k]

Maybe not, in fact maybe the opposite. If the rest of the world was undergoing an impact winter it might have been an oasis of warmth in the oceans. Would be an interesting topic for a video.

[@AlexanderPallares]

I wonder what the ocean evaporating trying to fill it back in looked like.

[@Dragrath1]

@@hunterG60k Yeah that is what the fossils just above the impact layer appear to show

[@dontassumemyfender9866]

The impact was so big it transformed dinosaurs into chickens.

[@todaysgrailtomorrowsbeater]

😂😂😂

[@topfloorstudio2684]

Yeah rotisserie chickens a little over well-done within a 1,500 mile radius of the impact crater.

[@Valkyrae123]

Yeah it pretty much did, something like that hit us it would probably turn us back into rodents

[@ub3rfr3nzy94]

No, it just killed every dinosaur except the small, bird like ones, that looked like chickens.

[@Batsyboodlebum123]

So we brought back dinosaurs and we ate a T-Rex we would be basically eating white meat?

[@Max-cq4dr]

The vegetation during the dinosaur time must have looked phenomenal

[@benedibrava]

dinosaurs died off around 4500 years ago thats why we still finding their bones with red blood cells and soft tissues

[@skar_wars2533]

Imagine the bud

[@gupdoo4230]

@@skar_wars2533 i’m dead

[@kylea123]

so much CO2

[@f3p]

@@skar_wars2533 imagine the shrooms that the dinosaurs ate

[@earthknight60]

A correction. The crater was discovered in the late 40s and initially drilled in the 50s, but as no oil was found it wasn't given much thought other than that it was a crater of some sort, presumed volcanic. It hung around in the periphery of people's knowledge for a while, and in the late 70s another drilling expedition was mounted with the aim of trying to verify if it was an impact crater. The drilling in the 70s was inconclusive. It wasn't until the 90s that drilling 100% confirmed it was an impact crater. It was the discovery of a large amount of ejecta in Haiti that renewed interest in Chicxulub as being the potential smoking gun. here's a rough timeline: 1940s Crater discovery (recognized as something weird, but not as a crater). 1950s Drilling in crater. 1970s Proposal that the crater was actually the result of an impact event and inconclusive drilling. 1980s Iridium layer discovered and proposal that an impact killed the non-avian dinosaurs gains support. 1990s Crater confirmed as an impact event.

[@jakealter5504]

2000’s-2010’s: chixulub confirmed as being the smoking gun for the large impact that ended the Cretaceous period

[@rillo806]

Thx 4 clearing that up

[@Polarzz]

when looking at this theory for exinction and the larger amounts of Iridium, it would make much more sense for it just being a volcano instead of a crater destroying the earth. yes asteroids may have more iridium, but it should also be noted that a large majority of iridum which is mined in the world is in the lower portion the equator such as south africa, brazil, australia and more. the iridum mined in sulfide layers in mafic igneous rocks could just simply mean the volcano in that spot had a much higher concentration of the element.

[@TheSilverwing999]

@@Polarzz I mean this is all well and good but it is literally confirmed to be an impact point. So it doesnt really matter how badly you want it to be a volcano, because it isn't

[@-Atrocious]

@@Polarzz Remember never question what you've been told.

[@oleromer9525]

No background music/noise. Wonderful. 🔭

[@TucsonDude]

YAY!

[@raiketv9873]

The scary thing is there is nothing stopping this from happening again.

[@dougg2012]

If it happens, it happens. Nothing we can do.

[@TucsonDude]

Yep, we have not evolved into a "Star Trek" future to prevent this. Will we ever?

[@ValouIka]

@@TucsonDude There's actually some progress on this: a while ago, there was that NASA's mission called DART which was successful on changing the trajectory of a small (164m) asteroid. So while we are still unsure about how successful we would be with a 15km asteroid, and these are the kind to be detected long before impact, I think we would be able to deviate it with time and money.

[@TucsonDude]

@@ValouIka I think I read about that. Wasn't the dinosaur killing astroid only 15km in diameter?

[@drizzy6302]

We got aliens

[@tobuslieven]

We only found out about it because it was in shallow water and they were drilling for oil. I wonder if there are other equally large impactors that we haven't found yet.

[@saschamarr495]

There may be equally large ones, but ever smaller ones would have played a massive role in the rise and fall of civilizations. Check out Randal Carlson's work and the comet research group. We may have been struck 12900 & 11600 years ago too.

[@calebmahoney2448]

@@saschamarr495 we were definitely hit by a meteor then. The impact spot is in Greenland.

[@0GieLongshank]

@@saschamarr495 8pppp888p88888888888888pp888888p8p8p8888888p88p888888p88888p8888p8p8p8p8888p8p8p88p88p8p8p8p88p888p8888p8p88p888p8p88p88p8888p8p8p88888p8p8p88888p8p8p8p888888p888888p88p8p8p8888p88p8p888p8p8p888p8p88p8p88p8p8p888p88p88p8888p8p8p8p8888888p888p8p888888p8p88p8p888p88p8p888p8p8p88p88p888p8p8p8p88p88p888p8p88p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8888p8p8p88p88p8p8p88p8p8888p88p8p88p88p8p8p8p888p8p8p888p8p88p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p888p8p8p8p88p8p8p88p8p88p888p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p88p8p8p88p88p8p8p8p88p8p88p8p8p8p888p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8888p8p88p8p8888p8p8p88p8p88p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p888p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8888888p8p888888p88888p88888p8p8p8888p8p8p8p8p888p888p88p8p8p8p8p88p8888p88p88p8p88p8p888p8p8p888p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p888p88p88p88p88p8p8p88p88p8p8p8p8p8888p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p88p88p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p888p888p8p8p888p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p88p88p8p8p88p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p8p88p8p8p8p8p8p8p88p8p88p88p8p8p8p8p88p88p8p8p8p88p88p88p8p8p88p888p8p88p888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

[@CreedBrattonTheOffice]

@@calebmahoney2448 I don't think a crater could hit us...

[@hayden990]

@@saschamarr495 love Randall, he’s so cool and I don’t get how people manage to reject his ideas when backed up so much solid info

[@PlaidDad]

Kudos to the photographer that captured the killer asteroid at the :40 second mark. Great timing on the photo!

[@GeologyHub]

The Chicxulub Crater is the only asteroid impact which has so far been definitively linked to one of the "big 5" mass extinctions. However, it is quite likely that other mass extinctions were also caused by asteroid impacts. Edit: some clarification; the true impact winter lasted 3-25 years, but the feedback loops caused by that period triggered a several thousand year long cooling trend

[@temosofthecommunistrepubli2637]

When do you think the next mass extinction will happen?

[@jakealter5504]

I think part of the reason why the chixulub impact triggered a mass extinction while other large impacts didn’t is because of the geology of impact location (the rocks in the Yucatán contained a lot of greenhouse gases in them)

[@deltasource56]

so can you explain how the Yucatan looks the way it does today in spite of the impact?

[@antjoes]

@GeologyHub Have you ever been to this crater? Or any crater? It was amazing to see the pyramids when I was In Mexico City (Teotihuacan) however I would like to see this crater as well as Chichen Itza.

[@gshaindrich]

@GeologyHub PLEASE! The Dinosaurs DID NOT die out! Don´t spread false Information! Some people will only read the video title and that is WRONG! No point then specifying in the description when the damage is done.

[@mikespicer4827]

I joined this channel quite recently and I absolutely love the info you provide on all the topics you cover, very insightful indeed. Best wishes to one and all 😀

[@twonumber22]

If you haven't already, go back and watch their uploads of that volcano that blew up a little while back.

[@shelley-anneharrisberg7409]

This series on impact craters is so interesting! Thanks for the amazing geological details - I knew about the asteroid theory , but not half the facts given here. Great video!

[@theonetruerobb4852]

Questions: What did the planet's land masses look like at the time? Were they pretty much placed as we see today, or has there been some significant drift since then? In particular, what did that part of the world look like. This bad boy obviously left one hell of a crater. What happened to it? Thanks for this....!

[@nameless1016]

question. will the nuke craters be studied by future more advanced and therefore peaceful species?

[@traviscarroll280]

north america was split in half of a vertical and diagnol part, the vertical part was larger and was on the western side which at the end probally closed in and created mexico and another landforms

[@Partsunknown426]

I still wonder when Urainus was formed

[@gatoslokosforever]

in Mexico we still believe USA nuked us, it wasn't a meteorite

[@bradymcnally2349]

my guess is that there were no buildings back then

[@giuseppemaggio5894]

Hi Geologyhub. I am noticing that you are focusing quite a lot on ancient volcanoes recently. How about 2 videos regarding the Roccamonfina and Vulture volcanoes in Southern Italy?

[@hossywoof]

Yes please to that. Great vid and as Zack Akai above said, I had no idea it took 1000s of years of craziness to return to some kind of normality. Amazing anything, inc plants could return.

[@DC_DC_DC_DC]

I wasn't even aware of those 2 existing??

[@kar460]

@@DC_DC_DC_DC same here. I thought they only have one and that would be Etna

[@DC_DC_DC_DC]

@@kar460 stromboli and Vesuvius I knew about too... But not these (and others)

[@kar460]

@@DC_DC_DC_DC I forgot about vesuvius 🤦‍♂️

[@r.lewisblake7793]

Wow! I thought I knew a lot about this subject matter, but the way this is laid out, with the details of how the discovery was confirmed is pretty cool added info.

[@marchelinogeorge]

I've been waiting for this video to come out.

[@prahladaz7296]

Best summary of key findings (with error bars no less) which connect these two events, ie: Chicxuhub impact and extinction at ~66 mil years ago. And you did it in 4m20s! I watched several other videos and by far this was the best. I had to subscribe, what more can I say! Thank you so much!

[@eb1247]

when you show maps relative to the impact crater you should show the tectonic orientation of the plates as they existed 66 million years ago.

[@chaosdweller]

Great point EB.

[@Micheal1122]

I live in this area, there are cenotes “holes” everywhere. It makes it hard to build on and our water is u drinkable even with a filter due to the minerals

[@jakealter5504]

I’ve been waiting for this since geologyhub started posting videos on impact craters, especially chixulub

[@innertubez]

Wow thank you. So much knowledge in under five minutes!

[@Rakso22]

That huge impact is why there are thousands of sinkholes in the Yucatan peninsula area. I would love to see a video about the tallest active volcano in Mexico: Pico de Orizaba 👍🏻🌋

[@saphariadragon]

I am actually pretty surprised he didn't mention the Tanis site which has some of the most direct evidence of the devastation of this impact. Would love to touch on that since it's such a rare example of direct evidence.

[@ecurewitz]

That could be another video

[@sunspot42]

Tanis might be the most incredible discovery ever made in paleontology. If what’s suspected is proven true, it represents the very day the impact took place. Breathtaking.

[@fallinginthed33p]

Seismic waves reached Tanis within minutes of the impact. The resulting seiche waves in an inland waterway caused huge landslides that buried everything. I'm surprised he didn't mention it because it's a monumental find in paleontology, a modern equivalent of the discovery of the Burgess Shale.

[@jonnyohiggins6969]

Thank you guys for mentioning the Tanis site. Very interesting reading. I had not heard of it.

[@kimm6589]

The Tanis site is very close to where I grew up in North Dakota. It's sad that people who live there don't give af about the cool science of the region. (only the oil money...)

[@thomashopkins9346]

Incredibly fascinating information presented very well. Subscribed.

[@crab5799]

If you’re ever feeling stupid just read some of the comments on this video

[@q12aw50]

Remember the guy who made this video as well

[@-mason-6538]

@@q12aw50 you’re one of the comments he was talking about

[@q12aw50]

@@-mason-6538 nope

[@crab5799]

@@q12aw50 yep

[@jayphil2563]

People are nitpicking the geography and paleontology stock photos used in a video about geology...appreciate the lesson as always GeologyHub.

[@planck10-43]

It's interesting that when I was a young lad the common knowledge for the dinosaurs extinction level event was always 65 million years ago and nowadays it keeps increasing by a million years every decade.

[@freakinxbox7363]

Makes me think they don’t even know what they are talking about, just whatever seems astonishing

[@SabotagedDecoy]

First knowledge is like hazy sight where once there was blindness. Subsequent knowledge refines parameters. It's like putting on glasses.

[@D3xterJettster]

Let's just say it was a billion and call it a day.

[@Sujay95]

​@@freakinxbox7363 It's almost as if science and technology makes progress each day and our understanding of the world deepens as a result and the previous findings and conclusions are refined in accordance with new evidence.

[@Partsunknown426]

@Brad Nadeau 😅

[@wildwest5436]

Glad you were there to present these "facts" to us.

[@Hallands.]

Excellent, thank you GH!

[@catherinehubbard1167]

Great video! As usual, you packed a LOT of information into a very short time. For this subject, though, I would greatly enjoy a longer format given its profound effects on the planet and the enormous amount of investigative work done on its various facets. In addition to the recent findings re the immediate aftereffects of the impact at the North American Tanis site and detailed examination of tectites and tsunami remains, there is the fact that the crater had a major impact on humans, namely the Mayan civilization in the Yucatán. In this region, water-filled sinkholes - cenotes- were vitally important as water sources and sites of religious rituals and sacrifices. If the cenotes are mapped, they trace the inland rim of the Chicxulub crater, where the shocked limestone allowed groundwater penetration. More detail about the timing of the extended Deccan Traps eruptions around the time of the impact would also be illuminating. There is also the issue of how the impact and its aftermath determined which species could survive - being small, unspecialized, and able to shelter in burrows or go for long periods with little food surely helped. And there is the question of the relative frequency of impacts of various sizes over the geologic time. And the fungal and fern spore spikes and so much more. As you can see, I’m a fan of the subject. Anyway, thank you for these excellent videos.

[@robertab929]

Video with errors. Dinosaurs are still on this planet. Only non-avian dinosaurs got extinct. "Reptiles" is not longer valid taxonomic group of vertebrates.

[@StuffandThings_]

Regarding Chicxulub, the ring of Cenotes surrounding it would make for an interesting geologic topic

[@MonkeyDefenceForce]

Yeah, it is no coincidence that those cenotes seem to almost perfectly surround the crater.

[@raygrange7312]

Excellent description of the events.

[@yomogami4561]

BOOM BADDA BIG BOOM thanks for putting things into perspective for us

[@leopardii6565]

I went on a commercial submarine trip to view the crater in the late 2000s and it was fascinating and scary

[@TucsonDude]

What company?

[@robertdorsey9631]

Best and most concise explanation of the impact event I've seen. Thankyou.

[@zin.nesis1]

Craaaazy. Thanks for the explanation

[@UnknownPersononGoogle]

02:45 No matter how many times I see that illustration I never cease to get chills. Just think of the scale of what was happening.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Would you explain how the size and speed of an impactor is calculated long after the fact? I suppose geological evidence gives the extent of the effects, but it seems a smaller faster rock would have the same effect as a larger slower one. How are these quantities determined?

[@rogerwilco2]

Good question. It is something I don't know either.

[@CornRecords972]

I guess the best way would be to study the trace particles of the crater and try and figure out how much foreign stuff like Iridium would have been deposited by a meteor of X size. Scale that up until you have the right sized meteor in your calculation to leave that much iridium behind.

[@TheBeingReal]

It’s really all about inertia. More mass: more damage. Oddly, with all the research done on munitions for the military, doing these calculations is well understood and easy.

[@deadspeedv]

The size of the asteroid varies in different publications from 10km to 19km. This is because they don't know what the speed of the asteroid was exactly. However we do know that Asteroids typically hit Earth at speeds varying between 16-32km/s. In this video it used the slower 16km/s which based on the size of the crater and global KT boundary layer, they can work out its mass (not size). A 32km/s speed assumption means an asteroid with less mass (and therefore smaller size if asteroid density is constant). For density they also needed to work out what type of impactor it was. They believe it was an asteroid rather than a comet because of the global amounts of iridium which is more standard for a stony asteroid rather than a cometary impact, therefore a typical density for stony asteroids can be used. So the only real unknown variable is velocity.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

@@deadspeedv Thanks. I figured the effect would be proportional to velocity x mass, but didn't know how they disentangled the two. The answer is they don't. There's a range of typical values for velocity, you pick one you like to determine mass, and get size from typical density. A range 10 - 19km makes more sense to me than a specific number you can't get without knowing (or selecting) either mass or velocity!

[@The_Dudester]

I grew up in New Mexico, which is a geologist's dream, due to the volcanism and associated geological features. In 8th grade I had a science teacher obsessed with a particular geological feature where he said a million (or was a billion) years were missing from the formation. It made me think, because I had been to the top of several mountain ranges and found sea shells ( at 10k feet elevation). If we go with uniformitarianism, we are supposed to believe that the Rockies were created an inch at a time over millions of years. That is difficult for me to swallow and I am more apt to believe that a series of violent events formed the Rockies. Perhaps a video on the possibilities of this???

[@machinegunhippy]

I agree 100 percent

[@aceshigh5157]

wow that was really interesting. think i'll add this to my growing list of things to explore.

[@luvmibratt]

Great video,subscribed

[@ozne_2358]

I actually visited the visible K-T boundary near Gubbio in Italy. I think it was the first or one of the first where the iridium concentration was found. It's visually unremarkable, but it makes you think about the change that it brought.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

I want' to say 'if it's visibly unremarkable' were you looking at the right thing? Because it does seem that for the most part the Cretaceous-Paleogene (they've changed the name) boundary is marked not only by the above usual proportion of iridium, but also by the detritus of fallen material from the explosion, fireball layer, secondary fall out, that sort of thing.

[@ozne_2358]

@@ValeriePallaoro The place was reasonably signposted. Also, it looked exactly as I remembered the photo from the Scientific American article it was published. Furthermore, it had some round sampling holes. It was definitely it and it was rather unremarkable : a darker layer sandwiched between lighter ones, about a coin thick.

[@AndisweatherCenter]

There is also some recent evidence that there was a 500 km wide impact crater that is currently south of present-day India. The name of the this crater is called Shiva crater. There is evidence that the impact 65 million years ago may have been a dual impact from a very large astroid very likely 30 km in diameter that was at the size of the astroid belt that fractured on its way to earth likely because it hit another object. This could also be evidence that it was a comet not an astroid that hit. Because cometS also have Iridium in them because, or not entirely made of ice but also Rocky/metallic fragments as well

[@priztucker]

Thanks for this. Was hoping to see more pics and details of the crater tho

[@p.bateman7033]

T-Rex looked up in the sky and thought, “Bang a gong”!

[@bevinboulder5039]

I've heard some scientists point to the Deccan Trap eruptions as an additional cause of the K/Pg extinction, but you're the first I've heard link Trap eruptions to the asteroid strike. Makes perfect sense. Thanks for this.

[@BMrider75]

The link is .... dubious. It's all down to dating. Deccan traps eruptions commenced earlier than the Chixilub impact, and certainly ran on much later. I think it's hard to push the date of the planetesimal impact back early enough, for it to be (at the Antipodes of Yucatan) the cause of the 2-3 million years long eruptions. Rather the hot-spot of the Reunion plume is a more likely candidate. We need more evidence, which further research will add, and answer more questions. Smiles.

[@bevinboulder5039]

@@BMrider75 This whole subject is fascinating. I'll be following the discovery of new evidence closely.

[@BMrider75]

@@bevinboulder5039 absolutely. Smiles. It is fascinating and exciting to see hypotheses emerge, then be confirmed or disproven. All on the evidence. We are living in great times for scientific research.

[@doomnova1946]

The traps erupted in 3 phases. The first phase was before the KT impactor. The second and largest phase is very close to the impact event. Close enough to reason it may have been caused by it. The 3rd phase was after the impact debris had settled. The problem you have is temporal resolution. You get that far back and you start running into issues with radio-isotope dating and accuracy. There is a race to validate new methods.

[@bevinboulder5039]

@@BMrider75 Absolutely agree with that. I remember when plate tectonics (only it was referred to as continental drift then) began to be talked about in the regular press where someone like me heard about it. I remember looking at a map of the world and seeing that Africa and S. America so obviously fit together and thinking, "Of course that's true!" 😄

[@scottmcdonald7577]

It's a hypothesis that is very compelling. But it's not fact.

[@Bob-lz4bz]

You can’t say that! No! 😂😂😂

[@scottmcdonald7577]

You're right. But if you say something enough, over and over and over again, somehow it becomes true.😀😇

[@henry-bo3np]

This is a good video. Thank you for sharing 🙂

[@bradleyjanes2949]

Great vid, thanks

[@lasthopeij]

Would be interesting to see the effect radius in relation to where continents were at the time. Europe would have been a lot closer to the impact than it is today.

[@tombailey6375]

in every video I see about this the earth is represented as it looks now. I would like see the continents configured as they were at the time this happened.

[@lovedeathdisco]

shoutout to the cameraman who filmed it all for us to see 🙌🏼

[@zed4225]

That was cool to hear it in your words

[@YouTooBig2]

Very interesting. Please consider commenting on the impact 12900 years ago at the Laurentide ice sheet over present day Saginaw Bay, Michigan, causing the extinction of the North American megafauna and the origin of the Carolina Bays.

[@lilysceesawjeanmoonlight]

Hi @geologyhub. Would you please do a story on the impact crater(s) in Australia --like wolf creek, amongst others, Most of Australias impact crater zones are quite big and have fantasticly defined, visible, 'crater-wall' 'rims' that are in excellent condition. so brilliantly preserved uplift at their centers, arising from extremely violent impacts events. Thank you @geologyhub. You do a good job🌏🌎🌍🔥⬇️🔥🌋🏔️🌋

[@Crnx449]

This was amazing to watch

[@memely4454]

Cool video!

[@sunowl5301]

That’s so cool! And terrifying.

[@cosmiccookie7715]

Question, what would the impact look like using the map of pangea? where would the asteroid have originally struck before the plates moved?

[@grandmaster3211]

Here's your answer. The Atlantic Ocean didn't exist back then. The atlantic ocean is about 3k miles in width since the continents drifted apart. Now you calculate what was about 3k miles from the impact zone in pangea chicxulub to the west. It would of hit the super ocean back then. A meteor of that size hitting the ocean would of caused a A tsunami hitting the coast of the north America. The water vapor from the impact of the meteor evaporating would of caused issues in the ozone layers. Long story short. An ice age would of happen from excess amounts of water in the troposphere. The big dinosaurs would of still went extinct due to plants dying and the carnivores that hunt them with drops of oxygen levels. Slight chance for shemedium dinosaurs that lived up north near China would be alive longer if they can adapt

[@boofert.washington2499]

@@grandmaster3211 I don't think you know what "long story short" means...

[@Conklin03]

66 million years ago, Pangaea did not exist. I'm not sure if that is what you were implying, or if you were just curious, but the answer would be pretty similar to the answer given in this video for where the astroid hit.

[@RiceCereal24]

@@boofert.washington2499 If you think that three short paragraphs is a long story then you don’t know what a long story is😂

[@gyozanomics]

OP - the yucatan was under water but the peninsula that we call central america is discernable to an extent the continents 65 million years ago looked very similar to now now if we go back to their early history, say the late triassic, 230 million years ago earth looked radically different it was one of many instances of pangea that's one thing that is important to note is that earth's history has seen multiple pangeas there was no pangea at the time of dinosaur extinction

[@katgrey6239]

So interesting!!

[@nunyabisnass1141]

The picture in the intro, i mist have paused and stsred at that for a good five minutes wondering what it would be like to be in those canyons. You cant imagine such a raw beauty nor put it into words. As someone that has grpwn up in new england wouldnt trade my shrinking pine barrens for the world, the deserts and badlands of new mexico, arizona, plains of Oklahoma and texas though seemingly desolate, are are a wealth of majesty. If i ever leave my home here i would like to settle in a place that has sandstone canyons like the picture. Not even in my dreams could i see such a place.

[@andyinnes2178]

This was the work of Dr Lois Alvarez and Dr Richard Muller, very interesting how they came to that conclusion that it was an asteroid impact.

[@rodneyjhackenflash4865]

Yeah. They were good BSers. And don't forget, Barrack Obama also got a Nobel prize because the prize givers wanted to show how woke they were.

[@FPVsean]

Any chance you can explain how the fold mountains of Ireland formed? We're a small island but have such a diversity of impressive landscapes as it was a shallow tropical ocean at one point

[@davidlafleche1142]

It happened during and after the Flood.

[@blaircox1589]

@@davidlafleche1142 which 'flood'?

[@Dragrath1]

To my knowledge the main source of metamorphosis for the rocks of Ireland and other former pieces of Avalonia is going to be due to the mountain building associated with the collision of Avalonia getting smooshed between Laurentia, and Baltica and possibly some additional propagating effects from the later collisions of Siberia and Gondwana to produce Pangaea. There are some bits which might preserve remnants of older mountain building events but as a general rule I think that is the main event responsible.

[@davidlafleche1142]

@@blaircox1589 "THE" Flood. "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:11-12, KJV). Geologic formations such as Ship Rock and Devil's Tower were also formed at that time.

[@AlexanderFirth]

@@davidlafleche1142 this is a science channel, not an imaginary sky daddy channel.

[@I_Rep_Eden]

Infinite Perfected Work

[@Jesusisyhwh]

You should do videos covering tuff rings ( like Ft. Rock in Oregon), tuyas, and the different types of lavas and other materials that are ejected by volcanos.

[@phillipjacobson4457]

What about the underwater Mayan temples found in this area?

[@ewoutboelens6499]

Hi GeologyHub, i'm a high school physics teacher in the Netherlands and yearly my student write a small receach paper on the universe. Many of them pick asteroids and meteroids as their subject. My question is this (and i give my students simmilar feedback): the short video is a summation of facts, but nothing gets explained. How do you arrive at your concusions? What data was used? How do we calculate the comparisons? ect... It's hard to find good explainers. Maby you can help me out...

[@MrMan_47]

Data? facts? You act like modern "science" cares about those things!

[@Mastrrone]

@@MrMan_47 ??

[@tamman994]

@@MrMan_47 ok buddy

[@blazinasian1232]

@@Mastrrone he has a tinfoil hat on rn

[@Masterman407]

@@blazinasian1232 probably also reading his favourite facebook conspiracy page

[@the23rdbryan]

LOVE the content !! Speech pattern of reading and voice inflection could use some attention.

[@tristanrenaud5087]

thx for the brave cameramen to risk their live for these rare photos!

[@LouisHansell]

There is a great story of science overlooked here. Before the dinosaur craze of the early 1980s began, Luis Alvarez and his son Walter were casually theorizing about what might have caused this extinction. They wondered if an impact could be great enough to cause the extinction. They were a uniquely qualified father and son: Luis was a Nobel prizewinning physicist, and his son was a well-known cosmologist. They decided that there would have to be specific markers of any impact of the necessary size: some of the Earth would be flipped, that is, a geological older level would be found above a younger level ( the impact would have to flip the geological layers); you would have to find this layer-flip all over the world; and the layer would have to contain elements found in outer space in much greater quantity than normal on Earth. They theorized all this on a blank canvas, with no evidence at all. Then a geologist looking for oil off the Yucatan sees an echo of what would be the Chixilub impact crater. Then they find a flipped layer, then called the K-T boundary because it was the marker between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods (now called the K-Pg, or Cretaceous- Paleogene...but if you lived through this scientific development, you still think of it in the original terms). Once they find one place with this K-T boundary, they find another and another. You can find it in the United States, and you can find it, exposed on a cliff in Denmark, at a now-UNESCO site at Stevns Klint, Denmark . And, lo and behold, the levels of Iridium are as if deposited by an asteroid, because the levels of Iridium found at the K-T boundary was very much higher than what could be found elsewhere on Earth. All of the markers the Alvarez' brilliantly theorized were discovered, confirming their very educated speculation. Quite separate from the Alvarez contribution is a recent discovery. The impact probably happened during the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

[@BMrider75]

Good summary.

[@briangarrow448]

The end of the dinosaurs or Ted’s Bad Weekend at Cancun.

[@AbbyTheAbinator]

reading some comments... I too would be interested in the finer details about this event, like a much longer video. seen every video thus far and I can say atleast 1/3rd of them I wish were abit longer and more informative. I get hooked and invested in some fascinating topics so you clearly got that part down. just a thought...

[@earljohnson2676]

I could never find it on the satellite thing . I seen your picture and oh I was way off . Good video

[@jeanmouloude]

bro its been 65 million years and i still feel bad for the dinos :(

[@rafaelvalimfernandes]

The only caveat I make is that the geographic map of that era was very different from what it is today, India was still an island and South America was much closer to Africa, I think it's important to look for a map more consistent with the geography of the time . One thing that I discovered recently is that the species alive today can tell us where this extinction event was less devastating, just look for the bird families that exist all over the world and relate them to families that we can see where the destruction was less severe. , of course, was an unimaginable apocalyptic event. There are recent studies that say that the amount of sulfur in the atmosphere was even higher than previously thought.

[@Dragrath1]

Yeah also don't forget South America was also further south at the time too the best evidence to date seems to suggest that the Chicxulub impactor (which has been isotopically identified through the iridium layer of most likely being a C type asteroid (carbonaceous chondrite) or a comet. Note there are multiple lines of evidence suggesting that C type asteroids are the leftover cores of extinct comets that were dragged into the inner solar system due to gravitational interactions between Jupiter and the other giant planets. If Chicxulub's impactor was a large fragment of a cometary nucleus tidally disrupted by the Sun as recent likelihood estimates strongly suggest then it would likely have been fairly rich in sulfur in addition to the very sulfur rich hydrocarbon laden sedimentary deposits along North America's continental shelf.

[@jpcodnia9133]

India was never an island

[@Ch4osKing66]

Also a researcher whose name I don't remember and his son found massive Tektites around the Crater, Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

I think the consensus, GeologyHub, is that this is a great, information filled, video and every second worth the watch. However, there's also a ground swell of noise to do another, longer, video on the same subject. Half hour, maybe? I've learnt a few new things, here, so there's more you could show us, since your research is so good. Pleanty of well-wishers, and some tips in the comments. Really, we would all love this, if you have the time.

[@MinecraftWillZoBoB]

im high af your voice sounds so fucking funny man

[@LebanonJames420]

hahahaha I'm not alone

[@LebanonJames420]

headphones was too much lolol

[@MinecraftWillZoBoB]

@@LebanonJames420 haha yeh with headphones as well but also he is so damn monotone

[@LebanonJames420]

My word mad of them are all starting to sound like this, what happened to the movie trailer guy

[@Farmer-bh3cg]

I was always under the impression that the dinosaurs died our over a 1-2 million year period. I'm now gathering from your video that the extinctions would take mere months. Do you know if there any confirmative evidence such as radio dating of fossils to confirm the "mere months" timeframe? Thanks for your time!

[@doomnova1946]

You really cannot compare months/years. The reality is you have to look at the magnitude of change. Is it a slow-rolling event like Siberian Traps blowing their tops for 5000-10 000 years (which can be measured) or was it a sharp spike in the system K-T impactor. You then look at the environmental damage done by these events and you si literally an abrupt change we vast quantities of soot particles are present. At that point, we know considerable plant biomass was lost just in the areas directly impacted by heat/shockwaves. This would mean many of the medium-sized species could not forage enough for food but also did not have the fat reserves the larger species did nor could they pedate other species. So you middle link in the herbivore species likely died on the order of weeks after the impact. You large herbivores could likely hold out for a month or two on fat reserves. Once these both were gone you would see predators start dropping off like rocks off a cliff. They can outlast herbivores but in the end their food dies out. They were likely the last to go likely 3-4ish months down the road when carcasses are completely gone of everything save the small avians who could like scavenge and live of insect etc. In these events size is your worst enemy. The bigger you are the more fuel you need but the more energy reserves you have but your choice of foods are far more limited. Also, your ability to breed and adapt is often impeded. Anything bigger than 1m and about 10kg is going to have a hard time. Then toss on reproductive cycles and you find in times of these disasters small is the way to go not big.

[@jakealter5504]

They can take a short amount of time but only when impact events are involved

[@jakealter5504]

@@doomnova1946 I’m pretty sure that the Siberian Traps were going for more than 25,000-50,000 years, it was likely closer to 500,000-1,000,000 years

[@larrydaniels6532]

@@doomnova1946 The fact is that no surface based life-form (greater the 25 lbs. i.e. burrowing or cave-dwelling) could have survived the global inferno. Any living animal on the surface of the globe would be incinerated within 8 hours of impact.

[@MrLaughingcorpse]

Here's a secret. All these ideas are just guesses. No one knows what actually happened except maybe Noah and his family but they are long gone. Luckily we have some of that recorded in a history book.

[@DANVIIL]

Well done.

[@creationistaresmart2393]

No

[@glinnyfelicitas7812]

This is my favorite crater

[@tommyhunter1817]

So, if the dinosaurs got wiped out, what did birds evolve from?

[@richardstephens5570]

The asteroid killed about 75-80% of animal species on earth. Small avian dinosaurs survived and evolved into modern birds.

[@rodneyjhackenflash4865]

HA HA!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD QUESTION!!!!! Tommy, you deserve a Nobel Prize for that one, but you won't get it because you have demonstrated you have a fully functioning brain!!!

[@mihaiioc.3809]

Hint: you as a human being share about 60% of your dna with bananas Take a guess. that's right, god damn everything could evelove into birds

[@ssoltau9318]

@@mihaiioc.3809 No that's not how evolution works. We share DNA with other life since all life shared a common ancestor from about 4 billion years ago. Birds evolved from dinosaurs before they became extinct.

[@ssoltau9318]

They evolved from dinosaurs before the extinction event.

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

Great video. I just wish you'd have shown the continents as they were 65 million years ago. The landmasses are barely recognizable back then. The impact wouldn't have been mostly felt "at sea." Large landmasses were really close.

[@Dragrath1]

Yeah for one the impact would have occurred further north since North America has been moving South but Eurasia was also much closer as well. Arguably you could somewhat argue that Laurasia still existed even if it wasn't a continuous landmass anymore since the land in the Northern Hemisphere was still quite concentrated.

[@nathanraphael9192]

100 mt tsunami would sure put out a lot of fires in a hurry for all those trees

[@princesspeachgaming4162]

I did find it to be quite a useful measure of how big the scale of the impact was by being able to compare it to recognisable landmasses, however i do agree that it might have been nice to see the original landmasses structure too.

[@turbotegs2102]

I didnt know impact craters were this dangerous!

[@wkeil1981]

Damn that’s intense

[@josephtriplett7788]

I believe the entire Gulf of Mexico itself was an impact crater if you look how round it is I thought that since I was a little kid and I believe that is where the dinosaurs became extinct

[@idrk7509]

lol, no the gulf of mexico is not an impact crater, and second, if an asteroid that big hit Earth, the planet would have been obliterated

[@eb1247]

The gulf of Mexico has oceanic crust, hence not an impact crater

[@godzefkiel2686]

@@idrk7509 a smaller Earth survived Theia. It wouldn’t destroy the planet. You’re both wrong.

[@spiritualarchitect4276]

I know what you mean. The Gulf LOOKS like a crater. The Yucatan does NOT look like a crater.

[@chetarmlin1196]

Non smart layman here, but .. Lots of reptiles were present during dinosaur days that are still here. If it was one event, how'd they survive? I thought oxygen content changed that no longer supported larger animals such as dinosaurs.

[@kermit1415]

Evolution

[@Arialovessyou]

Yes, but thing is after some time oxygen levels returned to a similar causing reptiles like: Purussaurus and Sebecidae to become monster sized

[@IMMADAAAWWGGGUUUHH]

Really makes you wonder when it’ll happen next🤔

[@shanemcfadden6427]

Lol. He described the most nightmarish scenario possible, and then in the most pleasant voice possible said: Thank you for watching! I was waiting for him to follow with: Good Night, and by the way, this could all happen again at any moment

[@Ffsdevgj]

Just theories, no way to confirm or deny such event.

[@richardstephens5570]

The crater and the layer of iridium around the earth are smoking guns. It happened.

[@ssoltau9318]

They have found plenty of evidence. Firstly there's the Crater. Yes it can't be seen today because it's buried under younger rocks. However. Drill down and you'll find rocks that have been subjected to tremendous pressures. Plus there's gravitational and magnetic anomalies in the area in the shape of a Crater. Sonar maps of the area have also shown that the rock layers beneath the surface not only angle downward, but have a bowl shape. Plus there's also evidence around the Gulf of Mexico in the form of massive tsunami deposits, a global rock layer about 3 centimeters thick that contains a huge amount of iridium.

[@judahmills1731]

Pretty small crater for the claim of destroying all dinosaurs on the whole earth.

[@Bradley_Warren]

Think about if we dropped our biggest nukes in one spot. The crater would be much smaller and still kill everyone though nuclear fallout and nuclear winter.

[@judahmills1731]

@@Bradley_Warren yeah but the meteor isn't a nuke so it just doesn't make sense

[@Bradley_Warren]

@@judahmills1731 The point was that it has detrimental affects around the planet. The dinosaurs didn't instantly die. The meteor caused a change in the earth that caused them to die suchl as massive earthquakes tsunamis volcanic activities and even a ice age from all the water forced into the atmosphere.

[@judahmills1731]

@@Bradley_Warren earthquakes tsunamis. There is no way that could have killed every last single dinosaur. Earthquakes couldn't do much damage to animals on an open Field, and tsunamis couldn't do damage to anything inland. Even if it could why are there still animals on earth, but some how every single one of these types of animals somehow died?

[@Bradley_Warren]

@@judahmills1731 It is called natural selection... A change in climate, oxygen levels and food sources. Honestly this is all easily expained if you put in the work to understand cause and effect. Things constantly have, and are going extinct even now. Not just dinosaurs.

[@JoshAllingham95]

Just watched david Attenborough’s dinosaur documentary then go on KZbin and this vid is on my recommend 👍🏻

[@gazza6348]

G'day mate awesome thanks 👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺

[@jrmc530]

You can see small craters but you can’t see the “HUGE” one that wiped out the dinosaur’s….lmao

[@ssoltau9318]

There's several reasons for this. Smaller craters either formed more recently or in rocks that are resistant to erosion. Meteor Crater in Arizona for example formed about 50,000 years ago. Manicougan formed in mostly igneous rocks which are more resistant to erosion, so it has mostly survived. Chicxulub has been covered by sedimentary rock that now forms the Yucatan Peninsula.

[@jkjgf829]

The flood Killed the dinosaurs

[@chronovore7234]

And that book rotted your brain

[@isaacclarke7425]

Very true

[@jackson32]

That's pretty impressive anything that could see the impact within a 1600 km radius burst into flame.

[@man_on_wheelz]

Sweet! Do it again!

[@w.d.g.]

awesome

[@irlshrek]

what a fun video! I would like to see you do a video debunking or validating randall carlsons work regarding a meteor hitting the ice shelf in canada causing huge amounts of water to rush down north america

[@SevenPr1me]

Is Randal Carlson also theorizing that this glacial flood in north America is also what eroded the landscape into what is now Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon?

[@123hejhej1000]

Wild!!

[@andyabajo]

There is a simulation of this famous impacter found somewhere here, and I am waiting for the day when someone will animate all the data it puts out. Some of the animation we see so far are either only artist's rendition or just a rough hypothesis from scientist and animated by artist. We want an animation made by math similar to what they've done with the blackhole in Interstellar movie.