page_title: Chicxulub crater
hierarchical_section_title: Chicxulub crater
caption_attribution_description: English: Gravity anomaly map of the Chicxulub impact structure. The coastline is shown as a white line. A striking series of concentric features reveals the location of the crater. White dots represent water-filled sinkholes (solution-collapse features common in the limestone rocks of the region) called cenotes after the Maya word dzonot. A dramatic ring of cenotes is associated with the largest peripheral gravity-gradient feature. The origin of the cenote ring remains uncertain, although the link to the underlying buried crater seems clear.
context_page_description: The Chicxulub crater is a very big crater. Some scientists believe that the Chicxulub crater was made by the meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and many other animals. It is partly in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and partly underwater.
  The Chicxulub crater is more than 180 km in diameter, making it the third largest confirmed impact crater. Petroleum prospectors found it in the late 1970s.
  The bolide which formed the crater was at least 10 km in diameter. Evidence for the impact origin of the crater includes shocked quartz, a gravity anomaly, and tektites in surrounding areas. The age of the rocks and isotope analysis show that this impact structure dates from the end of the Cretaceous period, roughly 66 million years ago. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
  A 2007 study suggests that the bolide may have been a piece of a much larger asteroid that broke up in a collision and also produced 298 Baptistina, 160 million years ago.
context_section_description: The Chicxulub crater is a very big crater. Some scientists believe that the Chicxulub crater was made by the meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and many other animals. It is partly in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and partly underwater.
  The Chicxulub crater is more than 180 km (110 mi) in diameter, making it the third largest confirmed impact crater. Petroleum prospectors found it in the late 1970s.
  The bolide which formed the crater was at least 10 km (6 mi) in diameter. Evidence for the impact origin of the crater includes shocked quartz, a gravity anomaly, and tektites in surrounding areas. The age of the rocks and isotope analysis show that this impact structure dates from the end of the Cretaceous period, roughly 66 million years ago. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
  A 2007 study suggests that the bolide may have been a piece of a much larger asteroid that broke up in a collision and also produced 298 Baptistina, 160 million years ago.
  In March 2010, following analysis of the available evidence covering 20 years' worth of data in the fields of palaeontology, geochemistry, climate modelling, geophysics and sedimentology, 41 international experts from 33 institutions reviewed available evidence. They said the impact at Chicxulub triggered the mass extinctions during the K-T boundary, including that of dinosaurs.
  Scientists can now describe in detail how the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs produced its huge crater. The reconstruction of the event 66 million years ago was made possible by drilling into the remnant bowl and analysing its rocks.
caption: Gravity anomaly map of the Chicxulub impact structure. The coastline is shown as a white line. A striking series of concentric features reveals the location of the crater. White dots represent water-filled sinkholes in the limestone rocks of the region
exif: {"Image DateTime": "2013:08:11 17:21:35", "Image ExifOffset": "58", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "106", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8328"}