[Gerta] Keller has accumulated evidence suggesting that the Chicxulub
crater probably did not coincide with the K/T boundary. Instead, the
impact that caused the Chicxulub crater was likely smaller than
originally believed and probably occurred 300,000 years before the mass
extinction. The final dinosaur-killer probably struck Earth somewhere else
and remains undiscovered, said Keller.... If the majority of scientists
eventually reduce their estimates of the damage done by a single asteroid,
that shift in thinking could influence the current-day debate on how much
attention should be given to tracking and diverting Earth-bound asteroids
and comets in the future.
--Steven Schultz, Princeton University, 25 Sept. 2003 |
