Short answer: The asteroid that triggered the dinosaur extinction struck off the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, creating the Chicxulub crater. Latest consensus places the impact there, and studies continue to refine details about the crater’s size and age.
Details:
- Impact site: Chicxulub crater, centered on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. This is the widely accepted landing location for the asteroid that caused the mass extinction about 66 million years ago.[3][4]
- Crater size: Estimates place the crater at roughly 150–180 kilometers (about 93–112 miles) in diameter, making it one of the largest known impact structures on Earth; recent analyses support a large ring structure around the buried crater.[2][6]
- Evidence: Geological evidence includes shocked minerals, a global iridium signal, and core samples from drilling efforts that link the impact event to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction.[4][9]
- Relevance to current events: Ongoing research continues to study the crater’s formation, age, and the broader consequences for life on Earth, including how debris and climate change from the event affected ecosystems.[8][4]
If you’d like, I can pull some recent primary sources or create a quick visual timeline showing the sequence from impact to mass extinction, with citations after each fact.
Sources
Researchers hope core samples will reveal ancient history and how life revived after devastating space-rock impact
www.ibtimes.co.ukAUSTIN, Texas — Researchers believe they have closed the case of what killed the dinosaurs, definitively linking their extinction with an asteroid that
news.utexas.eduLocation Coordinates21°24′0″N 89°31′0″W / 21.40000°N 89.51667°W CountryMexico StateYucatán Chicxulub crater Location of Chicxulub crater Chicxulub crater Chicxulub crater (Mexico) Chicxulub crater Chicxulub crater (Gulf of Mexico) Chicxulub crater Chicxulub crater (Yucatán (state)) … A team of California researchers surveying satellite images found a cenote (sinkhole) ring centered on the town of Chicxulub Pueblo that matched the one Penfield saw earlier; the cenotes were thought to be caused...
kiwix.hampton.id.aupoints to the Chicxulub crater, located on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. This crater, partially submerged beneath the ocean, boasts a diameter of approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles), making it one of the largest impact structures on Earth. Its discovery and subsequent analysis provided compelling evidence linking it to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event, which
aichat.physics.ucla.eduMexico. Geophysical surveys, using techniques like seismic reflection and gravity measurements, revealed a roughly 180- kilometer-wide circular structure buried beneath layers of sediment. The crater's size, shape, and geological characteristics—including the presence of shocked quartz and other impact-related materials—strongly suggested it was formed by an asteroid impact.
pinn.aiRock samples hold clues to origin of impactor that sparked a mass extinction 66 million years ago.
www.nature.comDaily science news on research developments, technological breakthroughs and the latest scientific innovations
phys.orgThe asteroid that caused the extinction of dinosaurs struck near what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The impact site is known as the Chicxulub crater.
dinosaurbase.com