The efforts of specialists working in the ancient impact crater of Chicxulub were crowned with success. Now researchers will have enough information about the asteroid, which, as many believe, killed the dinosaurs.
A team of specialists from the United Kingdom and the United States managed to penetrate deep into the ancient Chicxulub impact crater, which was left by an asteroid that supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs. This event is known to have occurred 65 million years ago. Chicxulub is located near the Yucatan Peninsula. The impact crater has a diameter of about 180 km, and its initial depth could reach 20 km.
The researchers drilled for seven weeks. It was originally planned to penetrate to a depth of 1,500 meters below the seabed, but eventually a depth of 1,300 meters was reached. Nevertheless, the project participants themselves consider this a great success. They managed to collect valuable samples, which were placed in containers and sent to the United States for analysis.
A series of tests will be carried out, which will answer many questions of interest to scientists. They, in particular, relate to how exactly the fall of the asteroid influenced life on the planet and whether the cataclysm could lead to the extinction of ancient dinosaurs.
Drilling site
Photo: BBC