Probe Into Mysterious Chicxulub Crater Caused by Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid, in 2016
An international team of researchers is set to solve many mysteries surrounding the asteroid strike event that wiped off dinosaurs from earth.
The team will drill 5,000 meters offshore of the Chicxulub, a sea-side village in Mexico located close to the center of the crater, also named after the village. Scientists hope to study the peak ring, a geological feature of elevated land mass around the crater's center, to understand why earth's crust behaved the way it did during the strike.
"What are the peaks made of? And what can they tell us about the fundamental processes of impacts, which is this dominant planetary resurfacing phenomena?" said Sean Gulick, a research associate professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
By analyzing the peak ring and other crater features, researchers hope to better explain existing theories that describe cataclysmic events which killed dinosaurs and several other life forms, following the asteroid impact. A core sample will also be extracted to study ancient life forms that made a recovery immediately after the extinction.
"The sediments that filled in the [crater] should have the record for organisms living on the sea floor and in the water that were there for the first recovery after the mass extinction event. The hope is we can watch life come back," Gulick said.
The $ 10 million expedition is being organized by European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. It is scheduled to last two months, beginning spring 2016.
