It was around 65 million years back that a doomsday asteroid hit the earth and caused massive devastation on a global level. The asteroid impact was so powerful, and it wiped out dinosaurs, then dominant species from the earth's surface. Now, a team of researchers has drilled into the seafloor of Mexico and has successfully extracted the geological record of the worst day in the earth's history.
Analysis conducted on rock samples has hinted the doomsday scenario planet earth faced soon after the asteroid hit. Scientists discovered traces of explosive melting, massive earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and wildfires. Researchers also added that the asteroid impact created a 100-mile wide hole on the earth's surface, and it had a depth of 12 miles.
The sediments also gave an insight into the temperature prevailed on planet earth after the asteroid hit. As per the study report, the global temperature was dropped by as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit for decades, and it created a mini Ice Age on the earth.
"It tells us what went on inside the crater on that day of doom that killed the dinosaurs. All of this mayhem is directly recorded in the core," said Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not a part of the study team, Fox News reports.
Sean Gulick, a geologist at the University of Texas, Austin who is involved in the study revealed that rocks in seabeds are clear records of compressed time, and it will help to know more details about the past.
"We can read it on the scale of minutes and hours, which is amazing," said Gulick.
In the meantime, NASA, the United States space agency is busy developing a planetary defense weapon to protect the earth from future asteroid impacts. NASA is apparently planning to hit rogue bodies using a giant spaceship so that they will change its original collision course trajectory.
