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The date of the impact coincides precisely with the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary), slightly more than 66 million years ago. [ 7 ] The crater is estimated to be over 150 km (93 mi) in diameter [ 10 ] and 20 km (12 mi) in depth, well into the continental crust of the region of about 10–30 km (6.2–18.6 mi) depth.
The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the 4.5 km (2.8 mi) Rio Cuarto crater in Argentina. [2] However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins [ 3 ] and age, with some sources giving it as < 10 ka [ 2 ] [ 4 ] while the EID gives a broader < 100 ka.
The Cretaceous (along with the Mesozoic) ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a large mass extinction in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, died out, widely thought to have been caused by the impact of a large asteroid that formed the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico.
The paper announcing the discovery of the feature was published in Science Advances in 2022, [1] with an impact origin being confirmed in 2024. The crater is around 9.2 km (5.7 mi) in diameter, and formed around , close to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary when a small asteroid struck the ocean floor. [2]
The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, [a] also known as the K–T extinction, [b] was the mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth [2] [3] approximately 66 million years ago. The event caused the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs.
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant species in a geologically short period of time, approximately (Ma). It is widely known as the K–T extinction event and is associated with a geological signature, usually a thin band dated to that time and found in various parts of the world ...
The Cretaceous is the Phanerozoic's longest period and the last period of the Mesozoic. It spans from 145 million to 66 million years ago, and is divided into two epochs: Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous. [53] Tylosaurus, a type of large marine lizards known as mosasaurs
For example, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, marks the lower boundary of the Paleogene System/Period and thus the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene systems/periods. For divisions prior to the Cryogenian , arbitrary numeric boundary definitions ( Global Standard Stratigraphic Ages , GSSAs) are used to divide geologic time.