Gathering Evidence about an Ancient Collision

Question 1

What is the Iridium Anomaly?

Answer 1

The Iridium Anomaly was when the Alvarezes found 30 times the normal amount of iridium was found in clay layer they were observing.

Question 2

What are the three common hypotheses about the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Answer 2

The Supernova Hypothesis, The Volcanism Hypothesis, and the Asteroid Hypothesis are the three common hypotheses about the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Question 3

What is the Supernova hypothesis?

Answer 3

The supernova hypothesis states that if a supernova, or a star explosion, happened near the Earth, it could send a ton of iridium and radiation to Earth, which could be deadly to many species.

Question 4

Why is the Supernova hypothesis viewed as invalid?

Answer 4

A supernova would send a lot of plutonium to Earth, but the observed clay layer did not have more than average amounts of plutonium.

Question 5

What is the Volcanism hypothesis?

Answer 5

The volcanism hypothesis states that a volcanic eruption brought a lot of iridium to Earth’s surface and caused massive climate change. The eruption lasted 30,000 years and covered India in over 1.5 cubic kilometers of lava.

Question 6

Why is the Volcanism hypothesis invalid?

Answer 6

The volcano eruption is said to have lasted 30,000 years, but the iridium layer was too thin to have been caused by such a long eruption.

Question 7

What is the Asteroid hypothesis?

Answer 7

The asteroid hypothesis states that an asteroid hit Earth and sent a lot of dust with iridium into the air. The asteroid impact is also said to have caused many different natural disasters that lead to mass extinctions.

Question 8

How could the Asteroid hypothesis be supported by the iridium anomaly?

Answer 8

The asteroid hypothesis states that the asteroid sent dust that had iridium into the air. It settled over the planet and formed a thin, iridium-rich layer.

Question 9

How do craters on the moon erode?

Answer 9

The moon doesn’t have things like wind and water to erode the craters. The only form of erosion is the continuous asteroid impacts that cause even more craters to erode the older ones.

Question 10

Where is the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs believed to be?

Answer 10

The impact is believed to have hit the area around Chicxulub, Mexico, which is on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Question 11

Name the three forms of evidence of the Chicxulub impact.

Answer 11

Tsunami debris, shocked quartz, and glass spheres are the three mentioned forms of evidence of the Chicxulub impact.

Question 12

How is tsunami debris evidence of the Chicxulub impact?

Answer 12

The tsunami debris was found in rock layers thousands of kilometers away from the impact that was 66 million years old. If an asteroid hit Chicxulub, it would send huge tsunamis in every direction.

Question 13

How is shocked quartz evidence of the Chicxulub impact?

Answer 13

Shocked quartz has a unique zig-zag pattern only caused by extreme pressure changes, such as that caused by an asteroid impact. The shocked quartz was found in the impact crater.

Question 14

How are glass spheres evidence of the Chicxulub impact?

Answer 14

Glass spheres are created when droplets of a molten rock cool. This molten rock is thrown into the air during a large explosion, such as that caused by an asteroid impact. Glass spheres were found in the Caribbean region.

Question 15

What are the three ways more information can be gathered about the Chicxulub impact using advanced technology?

Answer 15

Borehole drilling, computer modeling, and radar imaging from space are the three mentioned ways of gathering more information about the Chicxulub impact with advanced technology.

Question 16

What is borehole drilling?

Answer 16

Borehole drilling is when inner peak rings of the impact are drilled into. This can help in understanding how those rings were formed.

Question 17

What is computer modeling?

Answer 17

Computer modeling uses calculations and quantitative data to simulate the impact.

Question 18

What is radar imaging from space?

Answer 18

Radar imaging from space can be when a radar image is taken from space. Compute enhancements brought out the semicircle that makes up the southern part of the crater.

Question 19

What two main factors of an asteroid can make its crater larger?

Answer 19

The asteroid’s mass and speed both can make the crater larger.

Question 20

What is a correlation?

Answer 20

A correlation is when two things follow the same or a similar pattern. It may or may not be a coincidence.

Question 21

What is causation?

Answer 21

Causation is a correlation where one thing is actually related to another and the pattern is not a coincidence.

Question 22

What are the four natural disasters that can be caused by an asteroid impact?

Answer 22

Wildfires, ejecta, tsunamis, and earthquakes are the four mentioned natural disasters caused by an asteroid impact.

Question 23

How were wildfires deadly?

Answer 23

Large wildfires could have damaged or destroyed ecosystems, which could have lead to the death of any organisms living there.

Question 24

How is ejecta deadly?

Answer 24

Certain ejecta could have stayed in the atmosphere and blocked the sun. This could have lead to the death of plants and the animals that depended on them.

Question 25

How were tsunamis deadly?

Answer 25

Tsunamis could have flooded large areas and left a lot of debris, which could have damaged and destroyed both land and water ecosystems.

Question 26

How were earthquakes deadly?

Answer 26

The earthquakes may have shifted the land, which might have disrupted the habitats of organisms. The earthquakes also might have caused volcanic activity, which in turn can cause lots of problems and be extremely dangerous.