Have scientists found meteoric 'smoking gun?'

17 Jun 2002

An international team of scientists studying deep sea sediments off the coast of South Carolina has recovered new evidence of the large Caribbean meteorite impact that occurred 65 million years ago. Many scientists believe that meteorite collision led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other plants and animals at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Deep sea sediment cores collected during the current research expedition of the Ocean Drilling Program include a 3 to 8 inch thick layer of debris that is the blanket of material (dust and gases) ejected into the atmosphere upon meteorite impact.

"We recovered three cores spanning the last 65 million years that include not only a fantastic record of the meteorites impact and resultant debris that was blasted into the upper atmosphere, but also a 2 to 4 inch thick sedimentary record of microorganisms that reappeared in the ocean during that time period," said Dr. Richard Norris of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and co-chief scientist for the expedition.