How was the first day on Earth after the impact of the asteroid that ended the life of the dinosaurs?

It has been 66 million years since a asteroid impacted Earth in the Gulf of Mexico. The theory states that the event caused the disappearance of 75% of life.

Now, thanks to science and the study of a cylinder of rock extracted from the crater caused by the impact, it was possible to reconstruct minute by minute what happened.

According to El País, the investigation began in 2016, during expedition 364 to the Chicxulub crater, when the impact zone was drilled. The center itself was not drilled, but the outer edge of the crater.

Thus, a rocky cylinder was extracted from 1,334 meters below the seabed. The study of it tells the story in chapters of everything that happened after the fall of the asteroid.

“It’s one of the advantages with impact craters. Its formation follows very well defined physical laws”, pointed out the researcher of the Center for Astrobiology and co-author of the study, Jens Olof Ormo.

“We can reconstruct a sequence of events. From the type of sediment, we can tell if they were deposited quickly or slowly, and approximately how long it took.”. she added.

It is known that the asteroid impacted with an energy equivalent to that of a billion Hiroshima bombs. It released 245 gigatons of CO2 and another 325 of sulphides.

In addition, it is estimated that it carried water from the Caribbean to the great lakes in the north of the United States, 2,500 kilometers from the impact zone,

One of the data that most caught the attention of geologists was how quickly most of the crater was filled with the remains of the crash. In just 24 hours, the hole covered a 130-meter layer of sediment.

This was the first day of life on Earth after the impact of the asteroid.

The process in general must have lasted years and there is a conspicuous absence of sulfur in the area. These data reinforce the theory that the asteroid expelled large amounts of sulfides into the atmosphere, not allowing radiation and cooling the planet.

The simulations indicate that the global temperature dropped 30 degrees and stayed that way for 30 years. An event that marked life on the planet.