Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have PUNCTURED the Earth's crust creating 'instant Himalayas'

  • Researchers studied the famous Chicxulub crater in Mexico
  • They drilled into the remnant bowl of the crater and analysed its rocks
  • They created a simulation to show how the Earth surface was thrown up and sloshed back and forth like a liquid within minutes of the impact  
  • This could explain how surfaces of other rocky planets are formed
By Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail and Shivali Best For Mailonline
Published: 19:00 GMT, 17 November 2016 | Updated: 15:31 GMT, 18 November 2016
Around 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The impact was so huge that the blast led to the extermination of three quarters of all life on Earth, including most of the dinosaurs.
Now, researchers studying the resulting Chicxulub crater have shown the object that hit the planet may have slammed nearly all the way through the Earth's crust.
They say the impact caused the Earth's surface to slosh back and forth like a liquid.  
The finding could help explain how impacts can change the faces of planets, and how collisions can create new habitats for life.
After the asteroid had hit, the researchers believe that the Earth would have behaved like a 'slow-moving fluid'

PEAK RINGS 

Large craters often have rings of hills, known as 'peak' rings in their centre.
But studying these is difficult, as they mostly exist on extraterrestrial rocky bodies, and are difficult to access.
To overcome this issue, the researchers look at the Chiczulub crater, in Mexico, which was the result of a huge asteroid crash, 66 million years ago.
The crater represents the only intact peak ring on Earth, which has not been eroded 
Speaking to Live Science, Sean Gulick, a marine geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin, and co-author of the study, explained that while asteroids do occasionally hit the Earth, changes to the surface are largely the result of rain and wind, as well as 'plate tectonics, which generate mountains and ocean trenches.'
Other rocky planets in our solar system, such as Mars, differ, as weather and plate tectonics have little effect on the surface.
Mr Gulick said: 'The key driver of surface changes on those planets is constantly getting hit by stuff from space.'
The researchers, from Imperial College, London and the University of Texas at Austin, hoped to learn more about the impact effects found on other objects in the solar system.
The asteroid would have opened up a hole probably almost the thickness of Earth's crust, almost 30 km [18 miles] deep, and  80 to 100 km [50 to 62 miles] wide. The earth would have then begun to flow to fill in the hole, collapsing the sides of the crater inwards
The asteroid would have opened up a hole probably almost the thickness of Earth's crust, almost 30 km [18 miles] deep, and  80 to 100 km [50 to 62 miles] wide. The earth would have then begun to flow to fill in the hole, collapsing the sides of the crater inwards
Around 65 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico causing an impact so huge that the blast led to the extermination of three quarters of all life on Earth, including most of the dinosaurs 
Around 65 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico causing an impact so huge that the blast led to the extermination of three quarters of all life on Earth, including most of the dinosaurs 
Large craters often have rings of hills, known as 'peak' rings in their centre.
But studying these is difficult, as they mostly exist on extraterrestrial rocky bodies, and are hard to access.
To overcome this issue, the researchers look at the Chicxulub crater, in Mexico, which was the result of a huge asteroid crash, 66 million years ago.
The crater represents the only intact peak ring on Earth, which has not been eroded.
The researchers drilled 1,335 metres (0.8 miles) below the sea floor to examine rock samples at the impact site.
In the samples, they discovered granite, that was likely to have been buried deep for about 500 million years.
Researchers studied the resulting crater from the impact zone in Mexico, known as the Chicxulub crater
Researchers studied the resulting crater from the impact zone in Mexico, known as the Chicxulub crater

THE IMPACT HELPED SMALL ORGANISMS DEVELOP

The researchers discovered that the rocks from the peak rings were more porous and less dense.
This would have provided niches for simple organisms to take hold.
At the same time, nutrients would have been provided from water heated inside the Earth's crust.
Professor Joanna Morgan, lead author of the study from Imperial College's Department of Earth Science and Engineering, said the early surface of the earth was mainly solid granite – lacking spaces for life to evolve.
She said: 'The impact created rocks that were highly fractured with a ridiculously high porosity. This was basically quite a good thing for early life.
'The little gaps in the rocks provided a habitat for tiny organisms to grow.'
Mr Gulick said: 'These deeply buried rocks rose up to the surface of the Earth within the first few minutes of the impact.
'They showed evidence they experienced a high degree of shock from the impact.'
After the asteroid had hit, the researchers believe that the earth would have behaved like a 'slow-moving fluid.'
Mr Gulick said: 'The stony asteroid would have opened up a hole probably almost the thickness of Earth's crust, almost 30 km [18 miles] deep, and on the order of 80 to 100 km [50 to 62 miles] wide.'
The Earth would have then begun to flow to fill in the hole, collapsing the sides of the crater inwards, he said.
Mr Gulick said: 'At the same time, the centre of this hole starts reaching upwards, like when you throw a rock in a pond and you get a water droplet rising in the middle.
'The centre would have risen up from the surface of the Earth as much as 15 km [9 miles], and then become gravitationally unstable, collapsing downwards and outwards.'
The BBC has described the rock lifting as creating 'instant Himalayas', which is around 8,848 m. 
This process would have resulted in the peak ring of mountains.
The same forces that destroyed the dinosaurs may have also played a part, much earlier on in Earth's history, in providing the first refuges for early life on the planet (artist's impression)
The same forces that destroyed the dinosaurs may have also played a part, much earlier on in Earth's history, in providing the first refuges for early life on the planet (artist's impression)
As well as understanding this process, the researchers also discovered that the rocks from the peak rings were more porous and less dense.
This would have provided niches for simple organisms to take hold.
At the same time, nutrients would have been provided from water heated inside the Earth's crust.
Professor Joanna Morgan, lead author of the study from Imperial College's Department of Earth Science and Engineering, said the early surface of the earth was mainly solid granite – lacking spaces for life to evolve.
She said: 'The impact created rocks that were highly fractured with a ridiculously high porosity. This was basically quite a good thing for early life.
'The little gaps in the rocks provided a habitat for tiny organisms to grow.'
She added: 'It is hard to believe that the same forces that destroyed the dinosaurs may have also played a part, much earlier on in Earth's history, in providing the first refuges for early life on the planet. 
'We are hoping that further analyses of the core samples will provide more insights into how life can exist in these subterranean environments.' 

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE ASTEROID HIT EARTH?

Within 10 hours of the impact, a massive tsunami waved ripped through the Gulf coast.
This caused earthquakes and landslides in areas as far as Argentina. 
The creatures living at the time were not just suffering from the waves - the heat was much worse.
While investigating 'dooms day' researchers found small particles of rock and other debris that was shot into the air when the asteroid crashed.
Called spherules, these small particles covered the world with a one-tenth inch thick layer of soot.
Experts explain that losing the light from the sun caused a complete collapse in the aquatic system as the phytoplankton base of almost all aquatic food chains would have been eliminated.
It's believed that the more than 180 million years of evolution that brought the world to the Cretaceous point was destroyed in less than the lifetime of a Tyrannosaurus rex, which is about 20 to 30 years. 


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