Research: The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs was 4 km high

A meteorite hit Earth 66 million years ago that spelled the end of the dinosaurs, causing a huge tsunami. That’s according to new research in the American journal Geophysical Union. Rob van den Berg, a geologist at Naturalis and an aerospace expert at Sonnenburg, now sees the size of the tsunami as ‘huge’.

66 million years ago, a 4 kilometer meteorite hit what is now Mexico. ‘The impact was huge, 75 per cent of lives ended,’ says van den Berg. According to the geologist, there was a ‘tropical shallow sea’ in place of Mexico at the time of impact, which resulted in a ‘massive’ tsunami.

Today, the size of tsunamis is measured using computer-generated models. According to van den Berg, the wave became four kilometers high. ‘Because North America and South America were separated at the time, the tsunami could move around the world,’ Van den Berg continues.

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consequences

According to geologists, the sea retreated completely with the impact. ‘There were great currents that destroyed all life in the sea.’ In addition to marine life, all dinosaurs disappeared from Earth, which, according to van den Berg, paved the way for the arrival of mammals. ‘Suddenly many places were available to mammals.’