Scientists to drill into asteroid impact that wiped out dinosaurs
---- Scientists to drill into asteroid impact that wiped out dinosaurs // Engadget There's plenty of evidence to indicate that a gigantic asteroid likely wiped out the dinosaurs (and many other forms of life) when it smacked into what's now the Gulf of Mexico roughly 65.5 million years ago. However, what happened shortly afterward remains something of a mystery... or at least, it will until this spring. By April 1st, a scientific expedition will start drilling into the Gulf's Chicxulub impact crater to study how life recovered following the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period. The team will be looking for DNA samples, microfossils and rock type changes at different geologic layers to gauge both the effect of the impact and how lifeforms carried on in the hostile post-impact environment. The jackpot may be found between 2,600ft to 5,000ft deep. There, the researchers hope to locate signs of the peak ring, or the inner lip of the crater. The data ...