Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 1 april 2019
Snapshot of extinction: Fossils show day of killer asteroid

By SETH BORENSTEIN the massive asteroid crash
AP Science Writer that caused the Chicxulub
WASHINGTON (AP) — New crater in Mexico’s Yucatan
research released Friday Peninsula has been con-
captures a fossilized snap- sidered the likely cause of
shot of the day nearly 66 the mass extinction often
million years ago when an called the “KT boundary”
asteroid smacked Earth, for the division between
fire rained from the sky two geologic time periods.
and the ground shook far But some scientists have in-
worse than any modern sisted that massive volca-
earthquake. It was the day nic activity played a role.
that nearly all life on Earth Johnson and Melosh said
went extinct, including the this helps prove the aster-
dinosaurs. The researchers oid crash case.
say they found evidence There were only a few dino-
in North Dakota of the as- saur fossils from that time,
teroid hit in Mexico, includ- but the footsteps are most
ing fish with hot glass in their convincing, Smit said.
gills from flaming debris that There was more than di-
showered back down on nosaurs, he said. The site
Earth. They also reported includes ant nests, wasp
the discovery of charred nests, fragile preserved
trees, evidence of an in- This Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 file photo shows a model of a Tyrannosaurus rex on display in the New leaves and fish that were
land tsunami and melted Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, N.M. caught in the act of dying.
amber. Separately, Univer- Associated Press He said that soon after fish
sity of Amsterdam’s Jan said Purdue University geo- spans Montana, both Da- stuff.” But Johnson said that die they get swollen bel-
Smit disclosed that he and physicist and impact expert kotas and Wyoming — is because there is restricted lies and these fossils didn’t
his colleagues even found Jay Melosh, who wasn’t a fossil treasure trove that access to the site, other show swelling.
dinosaur footsteps from just part of the research but includes numerous types scientists can’t confirm the The researchers said the
before their demise. edited the paper released of dinosaurs, mammals, research. Smit said the re- inland tsunami points to a
Smit said the footprints — Friday by the journal Pro- reptiles and fish trapped in strictions were to protect massive earthquake gener-
one from a plant-eating ceedings of the National clay and stone from 65 to the site from poachers. ated by the asteroid crash,
hadrosaur and the other Academy of Sciences . 70 million years ago. Johnson also raised con- somewhere between a
of a meat eater, maybe a Melosh called it the field’s Kirk Johnson , director of cerns about claims made magnitude 10 and 11.
small Tyrannosaurus Rex — “discovery of the century.” the Smithsonian National by the main author, Robert That’s more than 350 times
is “definite proof that the di- But other experts said that Museum of Natural His- DePalma, a University of stronger than the 1906 San
nosaurs were alive and kick- while some of the work tory who also has studied Kansas doctoral student, Francisco earthquake.
ing at the time of impact ... is fascinating, they have the Hell Creek area for 38 that appeared in a New Purdue’s Melosh said as
They were running around, some serious concerns years, said that the work on Yorker magazine article he read the study, he kept
chasing each other” when about the research, includ- the fish, the glass and trees published Friday but not in saying “wow, wow, what a
they were swamped. ing the lack of access to this “demonstrates some of the the scientific paper. DePal- discovery.”
“This is the death blow pre- specific Hell Creek Forma- details of what happened ma did not return an email The details coming out of
served at one particular tion fossil site for outside sci- on THE DAY. That’s all quite or phone message seeking this are “mind-blowing,” he
site. This is just spectacular,” entists. Hell Creek — which interesting and very valid comment. For decades, said.q
Worsening air pollution reducing

lifespans in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — with air pollution more than ter in the air people breath
Indonesia’s air quality has doubling between 2013 will cut 2.3 years from lifes-
deteriorated from among and 2016, it said. The bur- pans in the capital, Jakarta.
the cleanest in the world den on public health has On the islands of Sumatra
to one of the most polluted become one of the highest and Borneo, both of which
over the past two decades, in the world, behind only suffer land fires every year,
shaving five years from life India, China, Bangladesh the expected reduction
In this Sept. 19, 201, file photo, the vertical-lift Ampera Bridge expectancy in some re- and Pakistan. in lifespans is four years on
spanning over the Musi River is shrouded by haze in Palembang,
South Sumatra, Indonesia. gions, researchers say. “High air pollution is now average. It rises to 4.8 years
Associated Press The study by the Energy undermining Indonesians’ for the southern Sumatran
Policy Institute at the Uni- health,” said researchers city of Palembang and 5.6
versity of Chicago says Michael Greenstone and years for its neighboring
an increase in coal-fired Qing Fan. “In 1998, air pol- Ogan Komering Ilir district.
power stations, burning of lution barely impacted Indonesia’s annual dry sea-
land for plantation agricul- the life expectancy of In- son fires were particularly
ture and rising car owner- donesians. In fact, even in disastrous in 2015, burning
ship are responsible for the 2013, it shaved only a few 2.6 million hectares (10,000
worsening pollution in the months off of average life square miles) of land and
world’s fourth-most popu- expectancy.” spreading health-damag-
lous country. According to the research- ing haze across Indonesia,
The greatest spike hap- ers, sustained high concen- Singapore, southern Thai-
pened in the last few years trations of particulate mat- land and Malaysia.q