In the mid-1980s, a group of archaeologists noticed a strange formation in the Yucatan peninsula. The almost perfect circular shape that was perceived in the satellite images impressed researchers who were unaware of the origin of such a phenomenon. And it was not just any circular shape, but one that was at least 180 kilometers in diameter. Then they knew, it was about the reminiscences left by the impact of a meteorite. The same one that would cause the extinction of the dinosaurs and that we now know as the Chicxulub crater.
puzzle pieces
Before this finding, the disappearance of the dinosaurs was known, but the explanations for the causes were not clear. The idea of a giant asteroid had already crossed the minds of Luis and Walter Álvarez. Physicist and geologist respectively and also father and son. However, in the early 1980s the idea sounded completely crazy to the scientific community, which immediately dismissed this possibility.
It wasn’t until the Latin American Symposium on Remote Sensing held in Acapulco, Mexico in 1988 that the pieces of the puzzle finally came together to explain the mass extinction. Satellite images of a large circumference near Mérida and the port cities of Sisal and Progreso in Yucatán were shown at the conference. The speakers did not know what it was about but in the audience was a young NASA geologist who placed the last piece of the puzzle that little by little different scholars were putting together independently and without knowing it.
Adriana Ocampo made it possible for previous studies to make sense. Such as the observations of Glen Penfield and Alan Hildebrand who flew over the area in the 1970s and reported an unknown geological formation in the area. However, it could not be verified that it was an impact crater until Ocampo, upon observing the satellite images, immediately knew that he was facing a great discovery.
From extinction to resurgence
Thanks to Ocampo, today we know about the impact of an asteroid 12 km in diameter, which passed through the Earth’s atmosphere at least 65 million years ago. The impact was such that it wiped out the dinosaurs and caused the last mass extinction 66 million years ago. Although the causes of why most mammals, turtles, crocodiles, salamanders and frogs survived such a disaster are still unknown.
The Chicxulub crater, as it has been named in honor of the homonymous region that hosts it, is a unique phenomenon in the world. Most of it lies under the waters of the Caribbean and has enabled the formation of porous rock in the subsoil of the entire peninsula. This is why you can find ghost rivers called cenotes there. Which are freshwater formations that run underground and emerge in the form of small lakes of crystalline water that are unique in the world.
Image: Cenote in Yucatan
The Chicxulub crater is a reminder of the power of the cosmos and how nature uses chaos to rise from the ashes. The impact of the asteroid represented the reset of the planet and thanks to this, today the place is full of wealth.
It might interest you