Chicxulub crater drill project successful– Did a meteor kill the dinosaurs?

The expedition to extract cores samples from the Chicxulub Crater off the coast of Mexico has been declared a success, according to a BBC News report.

Formed 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub Crater was created by the asteroid thought to be responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs.

Dave Smith, who is the site manager on the project for British Geological Survey, said drilling to rocks nearly 4,300 feet below the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico would probably end at midnight on Wednesday.

“It’s been a remarkable success. We’ve got deeper than I thought we might do,” Smith said.

The initial target was to drill to just over 4,900 feet underground, passing through a feature known as the “peak ring.”

This ring was made in the middle of the impact hole where the Earth popped back up after being struck by the city-sized asteroid. In previous surveys, teams saw the feature appeared as if it were an curving chain of mountains.

Samples ready for some serious science

The researchers said rocks from the ring haven’t yet been sampled. Even if the core drill didn’t hit 4,900 feet, the team said it has more than enough material to resolve major scientific questions.

The stone specimens, contained in metal casings, have been stored in a refrigerated container and will be shipped back to shore. First, they will be sent to an American lab for CT scanning, to look at their interior structure. Next, they will go to Bremen, Germany, where a science team will subject the rocks to a range of tests.

“Ultimately, the cores go to a facility in Texas where anybody can then sample them. Everything is archived. If someone has a new geochemistry measurement, they can go look at the core for a long, long time into the future,” said team member Joanna Morgan, a professor of geophysics from Imperial College London.

From the rock cores, the study team should be able to establish exactly how the crater was produced, the energy unleashed in its excavation and the amount of material that was distributed. This will give new details on the nature of the ecological transformations that enveloped the globe after the asteroid struck.

The team said they also plan to learn how quickly life was able to come back to the impact zone.

—–

All images credit of: Max Alexander /B612/Asteroid Day

The post Chicxulub crater drill project successful– Did a meteor kill the dinosaurs? appeared first on Redorbit.

redOrbit.com
offers Science, Space, Technology, Health news, videos, images and reference information. For the latest science news, space news, technology news, health news visit redOrbit.com frequently. Learn something new every day.”