Fine particles heralded the end of the dinosaurs

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Paleoart reconstruction of North Dakota in the first months after the Chicxulub
Paleoart reconstruction of North Dakota in the first months after the Chicxulub meteorite impact 66 million years ago. It shows a dark, dusty and cold world in which the last non-flying dinosaurs, illustrated here with a Dakotaraptor steini , were on the verge of extinction. Reconstruction by Mark A. Garlick.

Fine dust from pulverized rock released by the Chicxulub meteorite impact 66 million years ago played a dominant role in the cooling of the climate, the disruption of photosynthesis and the mass extinction in which most dinosaurs went extinct.

Until now, the precise circumstances of the mass extinction, such as the effect of the different types of impact material ejected from the crater on global climate were unclear. After previous research, rather than silicate dust emissions into the atmosphere, it was thought that sulfur gas and particles during the impact, and soot from forest fires after the impact, were the main causes of a kind of "nuclear winter. ...

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