Asteroid Triggered Mass Extinction at End of Cretaceous Period

The researchers have analysed deep-sea drill cores obtained from the North and South Atlantic as well as the Pacific. Heidelberg University - Sixty-six million years ago - at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary - nearly three-quarters of all animal species died out, including the dinosaurs. The cause for this has fuelled controversy among scientists for decades. The latest research from an international research team indicates that an asteroid strike was the sole driver of the mass extinction and that volcanic activity did not play a role, even though it certainly had an impact on the climate and the biosphere. Geoscientists from Heidelberg University were significantly involved in the investigations. The mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period was the most recent of five major events of this type in the Earth's history. As Heidelberg geoscientist Oliver Friedrich explains, there are two possible scenarios that are likely causes - an asteroid strike off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, the consequences of which are still visible today in the form of a 200-km-wide crater, or massive volcanic eruptions over a longer geological period in the Deccan region of Southern India.