A team of experts from the University of Michigan presented new information about the scale of the catastrophe that occurred 66 million years ago after the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid. The asteroid, about 14 kilometers in diameter, crashed into the territory of modern-day Yucatan, moving at a speed of approximately 43.5 km/s – much faster than the speed of sound. The consequences were devastating: acid rain, extensive fires, giant waves, followed by a global cooling period. Modeling demonstrates that just 2.5 minutes after impact, a colossal amount of ash and soot was ejected into the atmosphere.
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