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More on the Asteroid

13 April 2022
Catastrophism

William sent in another link on the asteroid strike. See https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/scientists-may-found-pieces-asteroid-233154265.html … which is derived from

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/science/asteroid-killed-dinosaurs-fossil-site.html … scientists at the fossil site in North Dakota think they have discovered pieces of an asteroid that slammed into earth in the sea off the Yucatan peninsular. This article also has a diagram of the Interior Seaway juxtaposed in alignment with the Chicxulub crater. However, it also claims to know the actual shoreline of south east North America, at the time, and that is also interesting. A large amount of Louisianna and all of Florida were under water, for example. This is an interesting configuration because if the poles were in a different location than they are today, either because of pole movement or because of continental drift, one might expect some parts of what is now land to be drowned and what is now underwater to be above sea level. This  means, if scientists prefer not to go down the road of reducing the geochronology of the Cretaceous by too wide a margin, the Interior Seaway might also be seen as part of this general displacement. Hence, the tsunami wave, as pictured, would have rushed up the Seaway to North Dakota, depositing lots of fossils in a mass graveyard, mixed with mud and whatever else might have been around. It still remains a catastrophic event,  though somewhat diluted.

The Chicxulub crater is 100 miles wide and 20 miles deep. Molten rock splashed into the air and fell  back down as glass spherules, some of which were found in the gills of paddlefish and sturgeon. Some of them got caught up in tree resin and are preserved in amber.

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