Why is iridium found all over the world?
In 1980 scientist Luis Alvarez and his son Water Alvarez found significant amounts of iridium in a certain part of the Earth’s crust, spread out all over the Earth’s surface. “They speculated that it was caused by a meteor and linked this to the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years prior,” explained Simson.
What is the iridium anomaly and what did it prove?
An Iridium anomaly is an unusual deviation in the amount of the element Iridium (Ir) in a given geological layer (strata). Iridium is a very rare element to be found upon the Earth’s crust. The discovery of a layer with abnormally large amounts of iridium is seen as evidence of meteorite impact on Earth.
What is a iridium spike?
Iridium occurs in normal seafloor sediments in microscopic quantities, but the iridium spike at the K-T boundary is very large. Iridium is rare on Earth, and although it can be concentrated by chemical processes in a sediment, an iridium spike of this magnitude must have arisen in some unusual way.
Why is it called the KT extinction?
The event receives its name from the German word Kreide, meaning “chalk” (which references the chalky sediment of the Cretaceous Period), and the word Tertiary, which was traditionally used to describe the period of time spanning the Paleogene and Neogene periods.
How big was asteroid that killed dinosaurs?
It was tens of miles wide and forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub impactor, as it’s known, was a plummeting asteroid or comet that left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that spans 93 miles and goes 12 miles deep.
When was Adam and Eve created?
According to the Priestly (P) history of the 5th or 6th century bce (Genesis 1:1–2:4), God on the sixth day of Creation created all the living creatures and, “in his own image,” man both “male and female.” God then blessed the couple, told them to be “fruitful and multiply,” and gave them dominion over all other living …
What was the first life on Earth?
The earliest life forms we know of were microscopic organisms (microbes) that left signals of their presence in rocks about 3.7 billion years old. The signals consisted of a type of carbon molecule that is produced by living things.
What is the biggest cockroach ever found?
Megaloblatta longipennis