Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Site: The Millions of Years of Heat That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Igor Mitreski

Diagram of the Chicxulub Asteroid Impact, 66 Million Years Ago

Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

The catastrophic Chicxulub asteroid impact, which occurred 66 million years ago, released immense energy and took at least 8 million years for the impact site to stabilize, fostering a warm underground ecosystem thriving with microbes.

Hitting what is now Mexico, the Chicxulub asteroid measured approximately 15 kilometers in diameter and triggered significant climatic shifts, resulting in the extinction of about 75% of Earth’s species. All non-avian dinosaurs faced extinction as a nuclear winter enveloped the planet for a minimum of 15 years.

Even the depths of the Earth felt the aftermath. “The Chicxulub impact caused deformation detectable up to 35 kilometers below the Earth’s surface,” explains Annemaire Pickersgill from the University of Glasgow.

This impact melted approximately 10,000 cubic kilometers of rock, and the interaction of molten rock with seawater resulted in hydrothermal systems rich in small pockets of heated water.

Research indicates the asteroid created a hydrothermal environment that extended several kilometers underground, as certain minerals only form in the presence of liquid water and heat. Surprisingly, the durations and extents of these hydrothermal systems appear to have been underestimated.

Previously thought to cool within 2 million years, Pickersgill’s research suggests the cooling process may have taken at least four times longer, providing more time for hydrothermal life to thrive.

“A major uncertainty regarding impact-generated hydrothermal systems like Chicxulub is how long the heat circulates water within the structure,” notes Pickersgill.

To investigate further, the research team drilled one kilometer into the crater, collecting rock cores. By analyzing the potassium decay into argon gas, they determined the age of the samples.

“Our findings showcase a range of ages from the impact event 66 million years ago to around 58 million years ago,” Pickersgill reports. “This implies hydrothermal activity persisted in at least some parts of the Chicxulub structure for 8 million years post-impact.”

Exploring sulfur isotopes in the rock cores indicates that microorganisms inhabited the hydrothermal system and exhibited rapid recovery following the cataclysm.

These findings imply that habitable hydrothermal conditions may have existed in early impact craters on young Earth and potentially on other celestial bodies for much longer than previously recognized.

“This opens up additional avenues for life to develop, evolve, and spread,” Pickersgill emphasizes. “The study bolsters the idea that early life could have established long-term habitats in impact craters, which may also extend to life on other planets characterized by large impact features.”

Chris Kirkland from Curtin University, Perth, Australia, adds that while there isn’t a definitive record of continued hydrothermal activity at Chicxulub, strong evidence suggests the site remained thermally active for millions of years.

“The significant impact doesn’t merely devastate the environment; it also creates long-lived underground systems that facilitate the circulation of hot fluids through fractured rock. These chemically rich environments could offer refuge to microorganisms and provide conducive conditions for the early steps toward life,” he concludes.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Enigmatic Lizard: Surviving the Chicxulub Asteroid Impact

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Yellow spotted tropical night lizard (Lepidophyma flavimaculatum)

Dante Fenolio/Science Photo Library

A unique and elusive group of lizards remains today, recognized as the only terrestrial vertebrates to withstand the catastrophic Chicxulub asteroid impact, which likely resulted in the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.

The Xantusiid Night lizard is known as an ancient lineage, surviving for tens of millions of years. However, Chase Brownstein from Yale University and his team proposed that this lineage might have originated earlier than previously estimated.

The end of the Cretaceous period was marked by a colossal asteroid strike near the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, creating craters wider than 150 kilometers and leading to the extinction of most animal and plant species globally.

Today, the night lizard—despite its name, not actually nocturnal—continues to inhabit Cuba, Central America, and the southwest region of the United States.

Brownstein and his researchers utilized previously published DNA sequencing data from Xantusiids to construct evolutionary trees for these groups. They integrated findings from skeletal anatomy of current species and fossil records, allowing them to estimate the lineage’s age and the quantity of offspring produced by the ancestral night lizard.

The team identified a shared ancestor that lived deep within the Cretaceous period, dating back over 93 million years, likely producing only one or two clutches of offspring.

“It’s highly probable that these ancient populations were situated close to the impact site, much like their modern counterparts,” remarks Brownstein. “It’s as though the distribution of Xantusiid lizards encircles the impact zones.”

According to fossil records, Brownstein argues that it is improbable for ancient night lizards to have simply returned to the affected areas later.

“Our reconstructions suggest that the common ancestors of living species most likely originated in North America, as the fossil evidence of Xantusiids is relatively continuous on both sides of the boundary layer,” he adds.

Numerous night lizard species inhabit rock crevices and possess a slow metabolism akin to other survivors of mass extinction, like turtles and crocodiles. “This likely enabled them to endure the aftermath of the impact,” states Brownstein.

Nathan Law from the University of Sydney expresses amazement at their survival. “These lizards resided near the asteroid’s impact site; despite the asteroid’s devastating effects within hundreds of kilometers, they managed to survive.”

Remarkably, they achieved this despite lacking many common characteristics typically associated with mass extinction survivors. “Species that endure these extinction events tend to be small, reproduce rapidly, and have extensive geographical ranges,” explains Law. “Conversely, these lizards generally have slower reproduction rates and appear to cover a minimal range.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Study finds that Chicxulub asteroid, which caused dinosaur extinction, originated from beyond Jupiter.

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The asteroid, called the Chicxulub impactor, was a carbonaceous asteroid that formed outside the orbit of Jupiter. New Paper Published in the journal Science.

Ankylosaurus magniventrisA Tyrannosaurus, a type of large armored dinosaur, witnessed the impact of an asteroid that fell on the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago. Image by Fabio Manucci.

About 66 million years ago, a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now a small town called Chicxulub in Mexico.

This impact released incredible amounts of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, setting off a chain of events that led to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.

Evidence includes the presence of high concentrations of platinum group elements (PGE) in the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer, including iridium, ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, platinum, and palladium, which are rare on Earth but common in meteorites.

These elevated PGE levels have been found worldwide, suggesting that the impact spread debris around the world.

Some have proposed large-scale volcanism in the Deccan Traps igneous province of India as an alternative source of PGEs, but the specific PGE ratios at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary are more consistent with an asteroid impact than volcanism.

However, little is known about the nature of the Chicxulub impactor, including its composition and extraterrestrial origin.

To answer these questions, Dr Mario Fischer-Gödde from the University of Cologne and his colleagues measured ruthenium isotopes in samples taken from three sites at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary.

For comparison, the team also analysed samples from five other impacts that occurred between 36 million and 470 million years ago, an ancient impact spherule from 3.5 to 3.2 billion years ago, and two carbonaceous meteorites.

The researchers found that the ruthenium isotope signature of samples taken from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary was uniform and matched very closely to that of carbonaceous chondrites rather than those from Earth or other types of meteorites, suggesting that the Chicxulub impactor likely came from a carbonaceous-type asteroid that formed in the outer solar system.

The other five impact structures have isotopic signatures more consistent with silicic asteroids that formed closer to the Sun.

The ancient spherulitic samples are consistent with a carbonaceous asteroid impact during the final stages of Earth's accretion.

“The composition of this asteroid is consistent with that of carbonaceous asteroids that formed outside Jupiter's orbit during the formation of the solar system,” Dr Fischer-Gödde said.

“Asteroid impacts like Chicxulub turn out to be very rare and unique events in geological time,” said Professor Carsten Müncher from the University of Cologne.

“The fate of the dinosaurs and many other species was sealed by this object that came from the outer solar system.”

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Mario Fischer-Gedde others2024. Ruthenium isotopes indicate that the Chicxulub impactor was a carbonaceous asteroid. Science 385 (6710): 752-756; doi: 10.1126/science.adk4868

Source: www.sci.news

Study suggests Chicxulub asteroid that caused dinosaur extinction originated beyond Jupiter

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski