Approximately 66 million years ago, a huge asteroid, 10 kilometers wide, fell on the Yucatan Peninsulain Mexico, causing such a violent impact that it wiped out three quarters of the plants and animals that then populated the Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs. This has been well known for a long time.
However, now something else has just been discovered. And the impact occurred in the perfect place for the proliferation of a hydrothermal system that laid the conditions for the proliferation of underground life for 8 million years. It wiped out the dinosaurs and a large number of animals, but it left us with ideal conditions for many new microorganisms to thrive. Said in a colloquial and extremely summarized way: the chickens that come in are the ones that come out.
4 times longer than established. An international team of scientists has carried out a study that combines data from rock samples extracted from the crater left by the asteroid and computer models of the geological behavior of the impact. Thus, it has been concluded that, when this occurred, immense heat was generated, which melted the rocks that in turn met the also hot water of the Gulf of Mexico.
As a result, a porous material filled with pockets of water was formed, very conducive to the proliferation of microbial life. In fact, these types of studies had been carried out previously. However, both computational and chemical analysis methods were less advanced, so the duration of the resulting hydrothermal system was underestimated. Initially it was thought that it could have lasted about 2 million years, but this study points to 4 times more.
The key is in the feldspar. In 2016 took place Expedition 364, in which a team of scientists traveled to the Chicxulub crater200 kilometers in diameter, to study the trail left by that asteroid 66 million years ago. They took several rock samples, including a feldspar very rich in potassium.
The formation of this type of feldspar rock is common in hydrothermal systems such as the one formed by the asteroid impact. Therefore, this rock was chosen to carry out the appropriate analyses. Over time, thanks to a technique known as argon-argon dating, it has been possible to see that this rock was forming in the crater from 66 million years ago, as expected, until 58 million years ago. Therefore, it was 8 million years of hydrothermal system.
Techniques advance. These impacts are extremely rare, but it is even rarer for them to result in such long-lasting hydrothermal systems. There is no known one so extensive caused by an impact, in fact. Therefore, thanks to advances in computer modeling techniques, it has been analyzed which conditions at the impact site favored this phenomenon. Combining data from Expedition 364 drilling with geological data extracted from previous modeling, it was concluded that there were three key factors: the high permeability of the rock, the sustained heat of the impact and the natural geothermal conditions of the site.
Very interesting applications. Understanding this is very useful for two reasons. On the one hand, because it gives us information about the formation of life on the early Earth. And, on the other hand, because it also helps us understand how this would originate on other planets, where these types of collisions are much more common.
Searching for life in space is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We all agree that it is necessary to narrow the search area. Initially it was thought that it should mostly be searched for planets that are within their habitable zone. That is, at a suitable distance from its star so that there can be liquid water. But today we know that there are other factors, like the absence of nearby black holeswhich may be relevant. Now, we also know which craters are the perfect places to start looking. All thanks to the asteroid that so long ago wiped out the dinosaurs.
Image | Magnificent
In Xataka | Now you can find out which dinosaurs were your neighbors thanks to this fun interactive map
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings