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New NASA Maps Show A Bad Day On Earth

Posted by timothy on from the that-is-a-bad-day dept.

Stephen Lau writes "ScienceDaily has an article talking about the new NASA maps that reveal the geography of the North American continent in amazing detail. One of the maps provides strong evidence of a 112 mile wide, 3000 foot deep impact crater which they believe was the comet/asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs and more than 70% of Earth's living species 65 million years ago."

30 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. A Meteor Did *NOT* Kill the Dinosaurs by egg+troll · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone knows that cigarette smoking did. At least that's what Gary Larson has hypothesized.

    --

    C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
    1. Re:A Meteor Did *NOT* Kill the Dinosaurs by whovian · · Score: 4, Funny

      Acutally it was Homer Simpson's sneeze.

      --
      To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  2. Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by ArmorFiend · · Score: 5, Funny

    It seems whenever anyone finds a reasonably large crater, they declare "this is it, this is the one that killed the dinos". It grabs headlines. I'd hate to be a dinosaur, because it seems like I'd've been extinctified about 12 times over by genocidal asteroid de jour.

    1. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by Malc · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They've been talking about an asteroid landing in the Gulf of Mexico since before I studied Geology in 1990. I remember being taught about the ejector blanket evidence they'd discovered in amongst the rock layers. The actual crater is rather harder to find due to it being submerged and eroded - it's not like it's obvious like the one in the desert in Arizona.

    2. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by rabiteman · · Score: 5, Funny
      It seems whenever anyone finds a reasonably large crater, they declare "this is it, this is the one that killed the dinos". It grabs headlines. I'd hate to be a dinosaur, because it seems like I'd've been extinctified about 12 times over by genocidal asteroid de jour.

      Well, the first asteroid was just a warning. Then the next ten were warnings, too. This current one, on the other hand... was the final chance for the dinosaurs to get their act in gear. In a few months, satellites will discover evidence of a 13th apocalyptic asteroid in Siberia. That's the one that took out the dinosaurs.

      --
      Oh cruel fate, to be thusly boned! Ask not for whom the bone bones; it bones for thee. -Bender

    3. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by $$$$$exyGal · · Score: 5, Informative
      Quote from the article:

      ... the flat limestone plateau of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula

      In this particular case, though, this research is verifying a long held belief that a giant asteroid/comet hit the Yucatan Peninsula. This is not news of a new asteroid.

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    4. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by DrinkDr.Pepper · · Score: 4, Informative

      They had evidence of soil from the Yucatan peninsula in the K/T layer from outcroppings around to world, indicating that the impact took place there and scattered material specific to the peninsula, around the globe. Dinosaurs are found up to the K/T layer, but not above. This has been known for quite some time. The exact location of the crater was located around 1991 I believe, but was only corroborating evidence. The evidence comes from the composition of the K/T layer. This link might help.

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      0xfeedface
    5. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by Drachemorder · · Score: 5, Interesting
      "Carbon dating the ring shows that it occurred 65 million years ago"

      Um, you can't carbon date an asteroid. You can only carbon date organic material, and that only up to maybe 10,000 years old or so.

      If you want to date rocks, you have to use other forms of radiometric dating, which is what I assume you were referring to.

    6. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Because of all the dino skeletons in this crater, twisted to look over their shoulder with forelegs raised in a defensive "oh no" posture.

    7. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by Graff · · Score: 4, Informative
      how do they know that this *particular* asteroid wiped out most of the species on the planet 65 million years ago?

      They can't be 100% absolutely positively certain, but they can get pretty close to certain. There are several ways to find out if a particular asteroid was the cause of a certain effect.

      We can get fairly accurate dating of both the asteroid event and the extinction event. You can find out when the impact occurred by noting how deep the the impact site and the material ejected from it is buried and comparing it to the sedimentation rates in the area. You can also perform carbon dating or other isotopic analysis on material that was killed in the region of the event at the impact layer.

      If the impact was large enough then the material that made up the asteroid should have been deposited around the world. Each asteroid has a "fingerprint" of different isotopes that is fairly unique, so the deposited layer can be identified as to which asteroid caused it. This means that there will be an identifiable layer of material in the arctic ice. Since each yearly layer has seasonal dark and light bands, just count the rings to find out how old the deposited layer is.

      Dating the dinosaurs is also done pretty easily. Carbon dating and isotopic analysis can narrow down the date pretty well, as well as buried depth, sedimentation rates, and other geological identifiers. Finally, the layer that the dinosaur fossils are found in will have some of that isotopic "fingerprint" from the asteroid that impacted the Earth.

      With this information you can narrow down both the impact date and the extinction dates to a narrow range. If those ranges overlap and the impact was large enough, you probably have the impact that caused the extinction. It turns out that there is probably the major impact in the Yucatan Peninsula and a few much more minor impacts that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. We've known about this for years, but more evidence never hurts.
      --
      Sapere aude!
    8. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by fermion · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I don't remember when the asteroid theory of dinosaur extinction was recognized as a good possibility, but it must have late 80s. At that time we didn't know if was one or many. I know that in the early 90s the the Yucatan crater was identified as the most likely culprit, as it was big enough and contemporaneous with the extinction which put the single asteroid extinction at the forefront.

      So, through most of the 90's we accepted that a single impact event wiped out the dinosaurs. Now, however, more impact craters are being found to have been formed within the crucial 65 million time frame (a search on multiple impact and dinosaur extinction). This is good news because perhaps a single big asteroid might not be fatal, and we may be more able to detect a swarm of meteors.

      Anyway, science is a self correcting system, and at this point is may be best just to say it is likely that at least one asteroid hit the earth and was a major contributor to the extinction of the dinosaur. But I know that is too long for a soundbyte.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    9. Re:Man, every asteroid kills the poor dinosaurs by dsz · · Score: 4, Informative
      There's a well-written book called T. rex and the Crater of Doom by the man who was part of the team that figured out how, when and where the asteroid hit, Walter Alvarez.

      It's a very accessible read, and explains their thought processes quite clearly.

      As I recall, the discovery of iridium, an element only found extraterrestrially (i.e. on asteroids), in the strata of rock that corresponds to the date of the extinction of the dinosaurs tipped them off.

      -DZ

  3. Dupe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the 7th - NASA Releases New Topographic Map of North America

  4. Dino Deaths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Dinos died coz they ran out of beer. Stop lying to us !

  5. Something concrete by BJZQ8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Finally something people can "grab ahold of" out of NASA. If they made a bigger deal out of a lot of their other advances and discoveries they would be held in better public esteem. But the public usually only pays attention when something bad happens.

  6. Re:If you support Slashdot, you support terrorism by Monkey+Angst · · Score: 5, Funny
    Personally I hope the whole lot of you are arrested and subjected to sleep-deprivation interrogation techniques.
    Sure. Then they can try the Chinese water torture on Aquaman. These are Linux geeks, for God's sake.
    --
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  7. Dinosaurs not killed by comet by guacamolefoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    C'mon! If the dinosaurs were killed by a comet, why weren't people killed, too? Didn't you ever watch the Flintstones? Given the interspecies symbiosis, it is highly unlikely that a sudden and catastrophic loss of the dinosaurs would not have resulted in a destruction of mankind as well. How would humans have quarried rock?

    No, I think a much more plausible explanation is that the dinosaurs were actually the victims of second-hand smoke, overpopulation, and perhaps disease. I mean, really.

    GF.

    --
    Lots of petrified grits
  8. no nuclear winter by wwest4 · · Score: 5, Informative
    The most important finding as a result of new imaging is that the mass extiction may have been caused by sulfur fumes, and fires started by hot falling debris. Before they thought photosynthesis was halted by solar obstruction from the dust cloud.


    Which means that a similarly-sized asteroid may be slightly less apocalyptic than thought. Sort of comforting, though I wonder how we'd deal with global forest fires when we can't even handle a relatively small number now.

    1. Re:no nuclear winter by antis0c · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've often wondered what I'd do if there were some kind of mass catastrophy headed our way. And I don't mean Osama setting off a Nuke on the east coast, or something, I'm talking about real apocolyptic stuff, the stuff that would destroy our entire society. Of course the first thought is to stock up on Guns, Food, Water and Toilet Paper. Build a shelter of some kind, that sort of stuff.

      Then I'm reminded that in those situations, the people that die are often the lucky ones. So I'm torn, try to survive or just give up. I'm not sure I'd want to live a life in a post apocolyptic world anyway. So I say when the big one hits, I only need 3 supplies. A Ladder, A Lawn Chair and A bottle of Southern Comfort. This way at least I have a decent view.

      --

      ..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
    2. Re:no nuclear winter by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, don't wuss out completely. I have learned from playing Fallout 1 & 2, Wasteland and watching all the Road Warrior movies that I can finally have a pink mohawk, wear football pads and drive as fast as I want with a sawed-off shotgun in a Post-Apocolyptic world.

    3. Re:no nuclear winter by maraist · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In a war people are violent, often long after the war. But that's more than just the collapse of society, that's an extension of society's self-destruction. Few apocolyptic scenarios involve mass societal collapse as a cause..

      Step 1) Shock/Fear: Mass fear (will might die, my family might die, where will I live?, what will I eat?).

      Step 2) Hysteria: People vauling their families or in worst cases, themselves over anything, including common human decency (trampling over people, driving over people, etc). At this stage, we become primally instinctive; we're in self-defense mode.. We're not able to think rationally.

      Step 3) Anarchy: Hysteria slowly calms down.. We're no longer screaming (though many are still crying). Depression will start kicking in for some.. Many will lose hope. Many will start to think about the future. They'll quickly rationalize lawless activities. Rape, looting, general acts of violence.. People will chant the "end of the world", and try and live out their fantacies.

      Step 4) Pragmatism: As the remaining loyalist military/police kills off the most violent offenders, the more remaining people are in three camps.

      a) The "victims" that will not be able to recover on their own; they will need to be followers.
      b) The "leaders", these will be people that will try and help out; working through the wake of disaster. These will be the optimisits. Being somewhat altruistic, they will fight for what they consider right, even in the face of dispair.
      c) The selfish. These are people who will quickly surmise that it will take decades (if ever) to recover, and in the mean time, we will be living in the stone age. There will not be enough resources to sustain the remaining levels of population. Fresh water will be virtually non-existant due to polluting drainage, and lack of pump-work. Rain-water is likely to be hazardous, and possibly droubting. Thus the selfish will realize that if they forcibly coerse other's, the "leaders" (including the military) will have them killed. Thus they will subtly backstab, usurping power (at least within their community).

      The problem is that only those smart enough to survive will become leaders. But as a follower, you can't be sure that your local leaders aren't secretly maliscious.

      The fact of the matter is that people will die due to shortages, and in the face of this, the majority of people will act accordingly, even in the long run.

      This will continue until either the population has dwindled to a sufficiently small group (which is unlikely given the then-newly-encouraged birthrate), or complex and corrupt power-systems will develop, which can contain the selfish class. Tyranical Dictatorships are the only systems that can contain anarchy. It is only given enough time and prosperity that benevolant systems can prevail.

      In short, we're talking hundreds if not thousands of years to rebuild society.

      If you're into apacolyptic tales, Revelation and Various profits (Nostradamus, etc) tend to talk about an apocalyptic aftermath which takes hundreds or thousands of years. So in short, I disagree that a cataclysmic event would have to be radio-enduced.

      --
      -Michael
  9. New meaning to NASA by A_Non_Moose · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now Another Slashdotting Attempt.

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  10. Not Shown... by Vampyre_Dark · · Score: 5, Funny

    The crater that used to be their server before it was slashdotted.

  11. Not a bad day... by stereo_Barryo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually it was a GOOD day for the earth as it got a major influx of material and upped its accretion rate, helping out in the race to be the biggest object orbiting the sun, though it still trails several other bodies, as of this writing. It WAS a BAD day for the life forms that inhabited the skin of the earth, but they didn't contribute a lot to the total mass. It WAS a GOOD day, though, for the minor life forms called mammals, as many of their predators and competitors were disposed of. Tough call on Good vs. Bad.

  12. Re:Alternate image by trmj · · Score: 4, Funny


    my dialup is angry at you right now.

    --
    Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
  13. GAAHHH!! by Soko · · Score: 4, Funny

    TIFF? 617 Megabyte? You moderators are cruel.

    BTW, that's not a picture of a 112 mile wide, 3000 foot deep impact crater - that's an aerial view of what happened to the server when morcheeba's linkage comment was modded up so the whole of /. could see it. :-P

    Soko

    --
    "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  14. Re:Alternate image by micromoog · · Score: 5, Funny
    [617.7 megabyte TIFF]

    I take it that the "112 mile wide, 3000 foot deep impact crater" is actual size?

  15. Does anyone else see the irony... by allism · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...of a post about an article being a dupe being modded redundant?

    Oh, yeah, I'm killin my karma now...

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    Denver Isuzu Suzuki
  16. Re:Alternate image by mithras+the+prophet · · Score: 5, Informative

    Since this is a dupe from last week, I had already downloaded the TIFF of the North America image, and converted it to a 1600x1200 JPEG.

    You can grab it here.

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  17. partial mirrors by cetan · · Score: 4, Informative

    I managed to save some of the two catalog pages here:

    http://www.phule.net/mirrors/PIA03379.html
    and
    http://www.phule.net/mirrors/PIA03377.html

    PIA03379.html has the 1.5MB image.

    No, I'm not going to try and mirror the 600+MB TIFF file :)

    --
    In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!