The catastrophic impact of an tremendous asteroid around 66 million eld ago sparked the most striking good deal extinction event Earth has ever seen , wiping out all almost all living organisms on the planet – let in the dinosaur . Exactly how life manage to re - emerge from the burning embers of the result post - apocalyptic wasteland remains jolly unknown , which is why an international squad of researchers is now preparing to practise some 1,500 cadence ( 4,900 foot ) into theChicxulub craterin search of clues .
Drilling is look to set out at the remnant of this calendar month in the Gulf of Mexico , put up scientists with a unequaled chance to examine the geological and microbic composition of the various layers of rock candy built up since the impact . In doing so , they hope to learn more about how the intense effect of the collision displaced material beneath Earth ’s surface , and what effect this may have had on the micro-organism that at long last gave rise to the diversity of life present today .
accord to exist theory , these are have when asteroid impacts displace material from beneath the airfoil , resulting in the creation of column of volcanic fabric that can be seen above the rim of the volcanic crater . It is thought that these towers may initially be filled with spicy fluids derived from subterraneangeothermal system , providing a worthy environs for certain bug to flourish .
By searching for the end of microbic deoxyribonucleic acid within the impact level , as well as examining the nature of the rock-and-roll that make up these peak ring , the researchers hope to be capable to affirm this theory . For instance , they may find evidence of microorganism capable ofmetabolizing the sulfurwithin these fluid , thereby enable their survival in the atomic number 8 - deprived environs that live in the wake of the impact .
Should these supposition be validated , it could facilitate to explicate how the asteroid , in add-on to make a mass extinction , also provided the conditions for aliveness to re - instal itself .
