Life At Impact Site Of Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Recovered Surprisingly Fast
At the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition 66 million years ago, an asteroid about 10 kilometers in diameter struck a shallow sea in what is today Southeast Mexico. The impact formed the Chicxulub crater, which is around 200 kilometers wide and one kilometer deep. The impact would have thrown trillions of tons of dust into the atmosphere, blocking the sunlight and cooling the Earth's climate significantly. Entire ecosystems collapsed and the impact caused the extinction of 75 percent of all species, including all non-avian dinosaurs.
At the impact site every life form was virtually wiped out, but just 30,000 years later marine life flourished thanks to a hydrothermal system created by the asteroid shattering the seafloor.
In 2016, an international team of researchers retrieved over 829 meters of cores from within the crater. A new study based on chemical traces and microfossils found in the cores presents evidence that marine life returned to the site of the crater less than a decade after the impact. This rapid recovery was likely helped by a hydrothermal system created by the asteroid impact and a steady supply of nutrients in the crater environment.
"After the asteroid impact, the Gulf of Mexico records an ecological recovery process that is quite different from that of the global ocean, as continuous hydrothermal activity has created a unique marine environment," says study lead author Honami Sato, an assistant professor at Japan's Kyushu University.
The study hinges on a chemical element called osmium, a metallic element common in asteroids. The researchers found evidence that osmium from the remains of the asteroid buried kilometers beneath the impact crater was continuously released in the Gulf of Mexico as hot water moved beneath the shattered seafloor and up toward the surface.
The researchers analyzed the chemical composition of sediments covering the crater to determine the extent of the hydrothermal system and how long the enrichment of osmium lasted. Microfossils preserved in the same sediments allowed the scientists to reconstruct how species diversity changed after the impact.
The results show that as the hydrothermal system ceased releasing osmium from the asteroid, the types of marine life living at the crater site changed.
When the hydrothermal system was releasing osmium, the dominant plankton were species living in high-nutrient environments. When the osmium returned to pre-impact levels, the plankton changed to species adapted to low-nutrient environments.
This finding indicates that the ecosystem was no longer being sustained by the nutrients from the hydrothermal system being released into the overlying ocean. Likely the system was buried to deep by sediments accumulating over time in the basin formed by the impact.
"This study reveals that impact cratering events, while primarily destructive, can in some cases also lead to significant hydrothermal activity," concludes coauthor Steven Goderis, a research professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. "In the case of Chicxulub, this process played a vital role in the rapid recovery of marine ecosystems."
The study,"Prolonged 187Os/188Os excursion implies hydrothermal influence after the Chicxulub impact in the Gulf of Mexico," was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Additional material and interviews provided by the University of Texas at Austin.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
‘The missing link': New early tyrannosaur species discovered by Calgary researchers
CALGARY - Scientists from the University of Calgary have discovered a new dinosaur specimen that they say appears to be the 'missing link' in the evolution of tyrannosaurs. The specimen was originally discovered in Mongolia's Gobi Desert over 50 years ago in the 1970s. But its significance wasn't recognized until Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor in the university's faculty of science, sent graduate student Jared Voris to Mongolia on a research trip. 'He was there a couple of years ago on this research trip and looked at the fossil and texted me (that) he thought it was a new species. I was like, 'yay,'' Zelenitsky told The Canadian Press. 'I said, 'This is good, but we don't want to jump the gun on this.' It turned out it (was) a new species.' The species, Khankhuuluu mongoliensis — meaning 'Dragon Prince' or 'Prince of Dragons of Mongolia' — is believed to have crossed via a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska roughly 85 million years ago. Zelenitsky said it appears to sit on the evolutionary scale between smaller tyrannosauroids and tyrannosaurs. 'It's the missing link between smaller tyrannosauroids and the large predatory tyrannosaurs,' she said. 'This missing link was around 750 kilograms. Its ancestors were a couple of hundred kilograms and just tiny, but then when you get to tyrannosaurs proper, they were over a thousand kilograms, up to estimates of 5,000 kilograms.' The findings were published Wednesday in the British weekly scientific journal 'Nature.' 'It's really exciting to be involved in a discovery of something that's been sitting in a drawer for 50 years. But it's even more exciting when it's a PhD student that makes that discovery,' Zelenitsky added. 'This discovery forced us to look at the family tree of tyrannosaurs in a very different light. It ended up with us rewriting the family history of tyrannosaurs.' The arrival of Khankhuuluu or a similar species after moving from Asia to North America may have been the result of following their prey to a new location, said Zelenitsky. 'It's possible that there weren't many tyrannosaur type predators so it's possible they were able to take over that niche in North America and moved to the top of the food chain,' she said. 'Tyrannosaurs were in the right place at the right time. It allowed them to diversity and evolve a large body size, ultimately becoming the massive apex predator that terrorized North America and Asia during the late Cretaceous period.' Zelenitsky said the evolution to the tyrannosaur happened rapidly, geologically speaking, and probably took a few million years. She has co-authored over 50 different publications during her career and was part of a team that first found evidence of feathered dinosaurs in North America. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
Ancient T. rex ancestor discovered: Khankhuuluu, ‘prince of dragons'
A new species of early tyrannosaur, dubbed the 'prince of dragons,' has been discovered lurking in a collection of fossils first excavated in Mongolia in the early 1970s, scientists said Wednesday in the journal Nature. Khankhuuluu mongoliensis — its scientific name — is an evolutionary ancestor of the most famous tyrannosaur, the 'tyrant lizard king,' T. rex. With their bone-crushing bites and spindly little arms, large tyrannosaurs (scientifically known as 'eutyrannosaurians') are the celebrities of the dinosaur world. But they started off as small-bodied tyrannosauroids some 150 million years ago in the Jurassic period. It wasn't until the late Cretaceous that they began evolving into the giants that ignite people's imaginations. Their precise evolutionary origins, however, have long been murky. A critical swath of the family tree is blank. Khankhuuluu, known from two partial skeletons in fossil collections at the Institute of Paleontology in Mongolia, helps fill in this gap — a transitional 86 million-year-old species that represents the closest known ancestor to the famed late tyrannosaurs. Previously, it had been described as an alectrosaurus, another early tyrannosaur. Asked for a modern-day comparison, University of Calgary graduate student Jared Voris, who led the work, said to imagine a large, predatory horse. 'What makes them so important is their age,' said Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study. 'They are about 86 million years old, a good 20 million years older than T. rex. It has been a frustrating gap in the record.' Voris was on a research trip in Mongolia in 2023 when he sent a text halfway across the world to his adviser, Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor of paleontology. He told her that he thought some of the fossils he had examined in a museum collection were actually a new species. Those specimens had been classified for decades as alectrosaurus, 'an enigmatic and poorly represented tyrannosauroid species,' Zelenitsky and Voris wrote in their study. What leaped out to Voris initially was that the snout bone was hollow, a clear sign that this was an early ancestor of the tyrannosaur family. It was the first of what would come to be dozens of features that suggested this creature was something new. Zelenitsky, a paleontologist at the University of Calgary, said she was excited but cautioned Voris to take his time. Some bones were sent to Japan, where the research team was able to conduct CT scans to study them in greater detail. The scientists also traveled to the American Museum of Natural History in New York to study alectrosaurus fossils to make sure the animals they were researching were distinct. 'There's no doubt this is a new species,' Zelenitsky said. 'There's also no doubt that it's the ancestor to these large apex predator tyrannosaurs.' The new study reveals an intermediate form — a slender, relatively flat-snouted creature. Other tyrannosaur experts said it was good to see these specimens reexamined with modern techniques and understanding. Thomas R. Holtz Jr., a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland, recalled that in the 1980s, the find in Mongolia was relatively famous within the small community of tyrannosaur specialists. He was the envy of colleagues back then, because he had been able to hunt down a blurry microfiche of the paper, published in an obscure Mongolian geologic journal in the 1970s. 'It helps fill in a gap in time and in the evolutionary tree,' Holtz said. Khankhuuluu is part of a gold rush in discoveries that are filling in more chapters of tyrannosaur evolution. Over the past 15 years, there has been an explosion in discoveries of tyrannosaur species, said Joseph Sertich, a vertebrate paleontologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Sometimes, new species come to light by dusting off old fossils and finding ones that were misclassified in museum collections, as in the new study. Other times, scientists dig up new bones. Voris and Zelenitsky paint a picture of species evolution and migration as tyrannosaurs dispersed between Asia and North America over millions of years. Khankhuuluu, or another closely related species, left Asia and moved into North America, giving rise to tyrannosaurs there around 85 million years ago. Several million years later, a migration back to Asia resulted in two new branches of the tyrannosaur family tree: the giants on one branch and the 'Pinocchio rexes' — smaller dinosaurs with long, slender snouts — on the other. And at the very end of tyrannosaur evolution, one of the giants migrated back to North America, giving rise to T. rex. Sertich drew the analogy to big cats, where many species can live alongside one another — leopards, lions or tigers coexisting as predators in the ecosystem. 'The patterns of evolution we are uncovering are revealing a complex story of evolution that goes far beyond tyrant dinosaurs and has bearing on the origins of the modern ecosystems of the Northern Hemisphere,' Sertich said. 'Ultimately, this paper is exploring the ancient connections between North America and Asia, two continents that have shared species, including humans, for the past 90 million years.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Researchers make stunning discovery about the Arctic that could impact entire globe: 'Fixing these models is essential'
For decades, scientists have used complex computer models to predict how Earth's most vulnerable regions will respond to increasing global temperatures. But in the case of the Arctic — which is warming at least three times faster than the rest of the planet — those models have consistently fallen short. Now, researchers believe they've found one big overlooked reason: winter clouds. Scientists at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, have made a breakthrough that could reshape how we understand Arctic warming — and what it means for the rest of the planet. In a new study published in Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research, researchers found that many leading climate simulations have a key flaw: they misrepresent Arctic cloud composition during winter, overestimating the ice and underestimating the liquid water content. That small detail? It has major consequences. In the Arctic's long, dark winters, clouds made of liquid trap heat more effectively — almost like a thermal blanket. And when those clouds are modeled incorrectly, it skews predictions about how quickly the Arctic is warming. "We found that the more liquid water these clouds contain, the better they are at trapping heat," explained co-author Momoka Nakanishi. This finding could help explain why the Arctic has been warming three to four times faster than the global average — faster than scientists had predicted. And while this might sound like a modeling issue with future implications, the reality is more urgent. The current models may be underestimating today's warming and overestimating tomorrow's. That's a dangerous mismatch — especially when polar warming influences everything from sea level rise to extreme weather patterns across the globe. And even if global warming were limited to the international target of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, another study warns that it may still be too late to prevent irreversible melting in the polar ice sheets. That would mean multimeter sea level rise — with long-term consequences for coastal communities worldwide. As cloud study co-author Takuro Michibata said, "Fixing these models is essential not just for the Arctic, but for understanding its impact on weather and climate change across the globe." Should the government ban gas stoves? Yes Only in new buildings Only in restaurants No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Meanwhile, researchers continue to refine our understanding of polar systems, while clean energy advocates and policymakers push for major upgrades that can make our homes and communities more resilient — including solar panels and battery storage systems that can keep the lights on during extreme weather — while reducing the sort of pollution that leads to increasing global temperatures. Installing solar in conjunction with a battery system can prepare your home for outages and drive your energy bill close to $0. EnergySage makes it easy to compare vetted local installers and save up to $10,000 on installation through tax incentives that may end after 2025. Even small changes matter. Reducing reliance on gas-powered appliances, supporting clean energy legislation, and staying informed are all actions that help — because understanding today's warming is key to preparing for tomorrow. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
