The Chicxulub crater in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has been identified as the site of the asteroid strike that led to the dinosaurs’ extinction 66 million years ago. This discovery has established Mexico’s crucial role in understanding one of science’s greatest mysteries.
The crater, 120 miles in diameter, is located partly on land and partly under the Gulf of Mexico. It marks where a catastrophic event wiped out three-quarters of Earth’s species.
Discovery Journey
The path to this discovery was intricate. In the late 1970s, geophysicist Glen Penfield, working for Pemex, recognized a peculiar circular magnetic anomaly centered on the Yucatán village of Chicxulub. Although Penfield suspected it was an impact crater, his 1981 presentation was largely overlooked.
Concurrently, American geologist Walter Alvarez was investigating a dark line in Danish cliffs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary—the moment dinosaurs disappeared from the fossil record. The line was rich in iridium, a rarity on Earth but abundant in asteroids.
The connection between Alvarez’s and Penfield’s findings emerged in 1990 when scientist Alan Hildebrand discovered impact debris in Haiti, indicating proximity to an asteroid strike. Core samples from the Chicxulub site later confirmed it as the extinction event’s location.
Impact and Exploration
In a 2016 expedition, new drilling revealed that the impact center quickly became a refuge for microbes and simple organisms, thanks to the nutrient-rich, deformed rocks.
Visitors to Mexico can explore this historical site at various locations. Chicxulub Pueblo, the impact center, offers a connection to the past, while the Yucatán’s cenotes, likely formed by the impact, enhance the area’s prehistoric legacy. The Chicxulub Science Museum near Mérida and the Museo del Meteorito in Progreso provide detailed exhibits on this pivotal event.
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