The so-called Cretaceous-Paleogene crisis is certainly the most well-known of the mass extinctions because it witnessed the disappearance of non-avian dinosaurs, in other words, all the dinosaurs that are not birds. Beginning in the 1980s, the investigation to find the culprit focused on searching for the collision site of a large meteorite until the Chicxulub impact crater in Mexico was ultimately discovered. But where does this projectile come from? To understand what type of celestial body we are dealing with, we need to examine the traces of certain chemical elements at the collision sites.
With Sciences Listen later
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A meteorite like no other…
Initial analyses had determined that it was likely a type of carbonaceous chondrite, a very primitive meteorite that has not changed geologically since its formation at the very beginning of our solar system. This new study focused on a rare element: ruthenium. By analyzing the specific composition of this metal in several impact craters, scientists determined that this meteorite was indeed an asteroid and that it came from very far away, well beyond Jupiter. How was the search for its origin carried out? Why is this asteroid so exotic? Answers from Philippe Claeys, a professor at the V-U-B University in Brussels and co-author of this study published in Science.
The Scientific Method Listen later
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