Investigating a 65‐Ma‐old smoking gun: Deep drilling of the Chickxulub Impact Structure

Abstract

The Phanerozoic paleontological record is marked by several biological extinction events. One of them, at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary, was responsible for the demise of about 50% of genera and 75% of species, including the dinosaurs. These drastic and abrupt changes in the development of life on Earth puzzled paleontologists in the past. Many a cause was put forward to account for them, amongst them climate changes, disease, or overspecialization. About 20 years ago, Alvarez et al. [1980] discovered a high iridium concentration in an Italian K/T boundary clay layer.They proposed that the iridium was derived from an extra‐terrestrial impact 65 Ma ago, and that the impact was the cause for the K/T boundary extinctions. The iridium layer was subsequently found at K/T boundary locations worldwide. Further evidence for a K/T impact came from the discovery of shocked quartz, nano‐diamonds, glass spherules, and nickel‐rich spinels in microkrystites in the iridium‐rich layer. There was evidence for an impact event, but no crater.