© compiled by Vellekoop et al(A) location map of the study area. (B) paleogeographic reconstruction of Gulf of Mexico and Baja California Pacific margin taken from Stéphan et al, and Helenes & Carreño, with location of this study, Chicxulub crater, and impact-related slumps, faults, slides, and tsunami deposits.
The meteorite that wiped out Earth's dinosaurs instantly ignited forest wildfires up to thousands of kilometres from its impact zone, scientists have discovered.The six-mile-wide meteorite struck the Yucatan peninsula in what is now Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago, triggering a mass extinction that killed off more than 75 percent of living species.
Uncertainty and debate have surrounded the circumstances behind the devastating wildfires known to have been caused by the strike, with several theories as to how and when they started, and their full extent.
By analysing rocks dating to the time of the strike, a team of geoscientists from the UK, Mexico and Brazil has recently
discovered that some of the fires broke out within minutes, at most, of the impact, in areas stretching up to 2500km or more from the impact crater.Wildfires that broke out in coastal areas were short-lived, as the backwash from the mega-tsunami caused by the impact swept charred trees offshore.