In the end it was the dust that did it for the dinosaurs. That’s the finding of computer simulations of the aftermath of an asteroid impact that reshaped life on Earth 66 million years ago.
The Guardian reports that the cataclysmic impact in what is now Chicxulub on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula wiped out 75 per cent of species on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs. But the precise nature of the deadly blow has kept scientists busy for decades, with soot-spewing wildfires, volcanic eruptions and vast quantities of sulphur all being blamed.
Writing in Nature Geoscience, researchers in Belgium argue that too little attention has been paid to the role of potentially trillions of tonnes of dust kicked up by the violent event.
Swirling around in the atmosphere for years, soot, sulphur and dust all have the capacity to block out the sun and contribute to a global winter where vegetation fails, with devastating knock-on effects for the animals it supports, the researchers say.
According to simulations, that dust could have remained in the atmosphere for up to 15 years, shutting down photosynthesis for nearly two years and cooling the planet by up to 15ºC.
Problem solved?
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