Controversies in Science/What killed the dinosaurs/A critique of The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction is due to the post-impact ozone conditions from the asteroid collision in the Yucatan Peninsula in northestern Mexico (The Chicxulub crater)

(Review Paper) Cited in Controversies in Science/What killed the dinosaurs/A critique of The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction is due to the post-impact ozone conditions from the asteroid collision in the Yucatan Peninsula in northestern Mexico (The Chicxulub crater)

Points Made

The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction is due to the post-impact ozone conditions from the asteroid collision in the Yucatan Peninsula in northeastern Mexico (The Chicxulub crater). The conditions included large tsunamis and acid rain which killed all the vegetation; in turn killed of the herbivores and followed by the carnivores .

Methods

The post-impact asteroid conditions were reconstructed using a computer simulation to show the carbon cycle during the Cretaceous-Tertiary period .

Results

It is suggested that the comet or asteroid severely impacted the atmosphere producing large amounts of NOGH-related CH4 and it was released by the blast. The trajectory model suggests that the photochemical reactions formed ground-level O3 whose concentration was low (1.0 ppm) but much greater than the current level of 0.04 ppm. This is a O3 concentration above the health-threatening levels. This is why creatures such as amphibians and reptiles survived because they were able to retreat to areas where O3 wouldn't affect them. Creatures that lived above the water were more affected because the NOx and CH4 reacted with the sunlight that wasn't blocked by the earth's dust and aerosols producing a deadly level of O3. .