The meteorite that killed all dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago could have fallen near Indian Mumbai
Until now, researchers were confident that the cosmic body, which caused the extinction of most species on the planet, collapsed on the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. Proof of this was considered a huge crater with a diameter of 10 kilometers.
However, scientists from the Texas Tech University in the United States, led by Sankar Chatterjee, have discovered an even larger crater on the Indian shelf in the Arabian Sea, writes the Mail Today newspaper.
"If we're right, this is the largest known crater on our planet," Chatterjee announced Sunday, presenting his findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
"The energy released upon impact should have become the main holocaust in world history, equivalent to an explosion of 100 trillion tons of dynamite, or 10 thousand times more than the power of the entire world nuclear arsenal," Chatterjee said.
The force of the blow was such, he believes, that the clouds of dust that rose into the atmosphere hid the Sun for months, stopping the process of photosynthesis in plants. Subsequently, this led to the death of plants and many animal species, including dinosaurs.
Scientists' calculations show that the diameter of a celestial body could be about 40 kilometers, and the funnel formed at the site of its fall has a diameter of about 500 kilometers.
The supposed place of the fall of the giant meteorite is in the region of the hydrocarbon-rich Bombay Hai field, where gas and oil have been produced since the 70s of the last century.
To confirm their guess, scientists need to send an expedition to the site of the alleged fall of the meteorite. “Melted and scattered rocks from the bottom of the crater will indicate to us signs of impact,” Chatterjee said.
Scientists will try to find out whether there is an abnormal content of iridium, whether rocks of impact origin are present.
