Dinosaur Files

How much was the impact done to Earth from the meteorite to the dinosaurs?

I heard that a meteorite before Man was born that it wiped out all the dinosaurs in the whole of Earth. How can the impact of the meteorite wipe out all of the dinosaurs across Earth?

Public Comments

1. Yes... it landed in what is now the Gulf of Mexico about 40 million years ago... and the dust from it blocked out the sun for several years.. causing an extended winter and killing all land animals.
2. It was an exceptionally large and powerful impact involving a ten kilometre diameter lump of rock travelling at high speed. That's kind of the equivalent of simultaneously detonating the entire arsenal of nuclear weapons, except that comparison would be an underestimate. Nevertheless, the result would be more than a slight bang. Whether that impact 65 million years ago accounts for the entire extinction even(s) is another matter. It certainly seems to have contributed. Update <<it landed in what is now the Gulf of Mexico about 40 million years ago>> 65 million is about accurate.
3. Also, there has been many other larger mass extinctions that have happened prior to the dino's. meteorites are not the only contributors to extinctions and possibly not the only contributor to the dino's extinction. If you google "mass extinctions" you can find out more about it.