https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/26/world/asteroid-dinosaurs-extinction-angle-trnd-scn/index.html
>In a new study, an international team of researchers said their 3D simulations showed that the asteroid hit at an angle of 40 to 60 degrees — what Gareth Collins, a professor of planetary science at Imperial College London's department of earth science and engineering, described as a worst-case scenario for the dinosaurs.
>"The asteroid strike unleashed an incredible amount of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This was likely worsened by the fact that it struck at one of the deadliest possible angles," said Collins, the lead author of the study that published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, in a statement.
>"We know that this was among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality on impact, because it put more hazardous debris into the upper atmosphere and scattered it everywhere — the very thing that led to a nuclear winter," he added.
Such a strike likely unleashed billions of tons of sulfur and other gases into the atmosphere, blocking the sun and leading to a dramatic cooling of the Earth's climate.
Older studies had found that the asteroid hit at a shallower angle and came from the southeast, Collins said.
>"This was based on a different interpretation of the geophysical data, which our work overturns, and observations at the time that suggested that the ejecta from the crater was asymmetric, with more ejecta in North America (to the northwest) than elsewhere," he explained via email, referring to the material that was forced out as a result of the impact.
>"More recent observations have shown that the ejecta distribution is more-or-less symmetric."
>In a new study, an international team of researchers said their 3D simulations showed that the asteroid hit at an angle of 40 to 60 degrees — what Gareth Collins, a professor of planetary science at Imperial College London's department of earth science and engineering, described as a worst-case scenario for the dinosaurs.
>"The asteroid strike unleashed an incredible amount of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This was likely worsened by the fact that it struck at one of the deadliest possible angles," said Collins, the lead author of the study that published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, in a statement.
>"We know that this was among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality on impact, because it put more hazardous debris into the upper atmosphere and scattered it everywhere — the very thing that led to a nuclear winter," he added.
Such a strike likely unleashed billions of tons of sulfur and other gases into the atmosphere, blocking the sun and leading to a dramatic cooling of the Earth's climate.
Older studies had found that the asteroid hit at a shallower angle and came from the southeast, Collins said.
>"This was based on a different interpretation of the geophysical data, which our work overturns, and observations at the time that suggested that the ejecta from the crater was asymmetric, with more ejecta in North America (to the northwest) than elsewhere," he explained via email, referring to the material that was forced out as a result of the impact.
>"More recent observations have shown that the ejecta distribution is more-or-less symmetric."
