Meteorites Meteorites are small extraterrestrial bodies that reach the Earth ’s surface. They are small asteroids‚ approximately boulder-sized or less. While still in space these bodies are called meteoroids. When they enter the Earth ’s atmosphere‚ but before reaching the surface‚ they are called meteors. Seventy nine percent of meteorites are chondrites. Chondrites are balls of mafic minerals with small grain size indicative of rapid cooling. In most chondrites small spherules‚ called chondrules
Premium
celestial mass would send up vast clouds‚ full of iridium-rich dust" (Bakker 432). An asteroid called Chicxulub hit the earth creating a 150 mile wide crater near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The asteroid is thought to have weighed 4 million tons. When it hit the Earth it would have formed a crater 60 to 90 miles (100 to 150 km) wide. The asteroid would have exploded deep down in the crater and shot out up to 400 trillion tons of rock and dust. The dust would have blocked the light from the sun
Premium Dinosaur Cretaceous Climate change
Melbourne. 2. Prof Benton‚ M. (2001). Cassell’s Atlas of Evolution. Andromeda Oxford Limited‚ Oxfordshire. 3. Palmer‚ D. (2000). The Atlas of the Prehistoric World. Marshall Publishing Ltd‚ London. 4. (2010). Disaster down under – Australian impact Craters. [Internet]. Available from: (Accessed 8th May 2011). 5. Goodwin‚ A. (2001). Paleobiology and biodiversity Research Group: The Permo Triassic Mass Extinction. [Internet]. University of Bristol’s Department of Earth Sciences‚ UK. Available from: http://palaeo
Premium Extinction event Dinosaur Global warming
geologist Walter Alvarez (Vergano). Later on other scientist backed up the Alvarez’s asteroid extinction theory with geological evidence. Proof of the asteroid collision was found in Chicxulub‚ Mexico with the discovery of a gargantuan crater that was more than 110 miles wide (Vergano). The explosion that created the crater would have been made by an asteroid that was at least 6 miles across releasing as much energy as 100 trillion tons of TNT (Q). This explosion is a billion times more powerful than
Premium Dinosaur Volcano Cretaceous
Impacts from Space and Mass Extinction Events A. Understand the concept of a biosphere and Earth System Science and that the biosphere has evolved over time. -Mass extinction: a crisis that affects life right across the planet from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains -Biosphere: all life on Earth is a part of the biosphere‚ a thin layer of life that exists on the surface of the planet and that interacts with the hydrosphere (oceans‚ lakes‚ and rivers)‚ the atmosphere‚ and the lithosphere
Premium Extinction event Dinosaur
tear-dropped shaped pieces of glass that form when rocks are thrown into the atmosphere by an impact and then melt on re-entry.” Then Dr. Alan Hildebrand also deduced‚ using other evidence that the asteroid hit near the Yucatan peninsula at the crater known as Chicxulub (BBC). Though many scientists believe the K-Pg event was caused by an huge asteroid some
Premium Dinosaur Cretaceous Extinction event
The objects in the asteroid belts that are contained within the Solar System affect life on Earth today. These asteroid belts are the main asteroid belt and‚ the Kuiper Belt. Since these belts contain so many objects‚ there is diversity present within the objects. The asteroid belts consist of many categories of asteroids‚ the sizes of which‚ can vary greatly‚ ranging from a few meters to miles long. However‚ the mass of all discovered asteroids is still less than Earth’s mass. This is logical since
Premium Solar System Dwarf planet Planet
The Top 10 Myths About Dinosaur Extinction Misconceptions About the Extinction of Dinosaurs Cen Chen We all know that the dinosaurs mysteriously (or not so mysteriously) vanished off the face of the earth about 65 million years ago‚ a mass extinction that still lingers in the popular imagination. How could creatures so huge‚ so fierce and so successful go down the drain virtually overnight‚ along with their close cousins‚ the pterosaurs and marine reptiles? The details are still being worked out
Premium Dinosaur Extinction event Cretaceous
Mass Extinction Events: The Causes And Effects Kieran A. F. Burley A mass extinction is defined as an event when there is a massive decrease in the abundance and diversity of all species on the planet‚ this will occur over a relatively short period of time‚ for any one species an extinction is catastrophic. Extinction events occur continually this results in regular change of all species on the planet and is known as background extinctions‚ sometimes however extinction rates rise suddenly for
Premium Extinction event Dinosaur
Meteorites are rocks from space‚ which land on Earth‚ attracted by her gravity. The shooting stars that you see at night‚ are actually burning meteors that fall on Earth from outer space! This is the first of many interesting facts that are going to follow. Why do meteorites fall? For the same reason why anything falls on Earth - ’Gravity’. Very few can escape it! Meteorites have their origin in outer space. They are relatively small pieces of dust and debris‚ usually left behind in the wake of a
Premium Comet Asteroid Solar System