DOSECC Drilling Project in Chicxulub

Nature covered the DOSECC drilling project in Chicxulub in the recent article Geologists Drill into Heart of Dinosaur-Killing Impact (March 31, 2016).  The project successfully completed in May.  The Chicxulub crater is believed to be the result of the asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago and resulted in the mass extinction of over 70% of life on earth, including flightless dinosaurs. 

“All of this happened in the span of several devastating minutes,” says Joanna Morgan, a geophysicist at Imperial College London and the project’s co-chief scientist. “It’s astounding.”  The core sample pulled from 1300 meters below the ocean floor off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is expected to reveal the event’s impact on Earth’s climate, atmosphere, geography, and life itself. 

“At Chicxulub, researchers will look for evidence to explain how a 14-kilometre-wide asteroid could have punched a hole that pushed rocks from the surface down some 20–30 kilometres. Flowing like liquid, the rocks then rebounded towards the sky — reaching as far as 10 kilometres above the original ground level — and finally splattered down to form a peak ring.

“If the 2-month expedition goes as planned, it will bore 1,500 metres into sea-floor rocks. The drill will first pass through carbonate rocks that make up the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico (see map), and eventually reach the fractured ‘impact breccias’ that represent the obliterating impact.”

Read more about coverage of DOSECC’s work at Chicxulub at http://dosecc.com/