Chicxulub crater is believed to have formed by a catastrophic asteroid crash, blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs, some 65.5 million years ago. Scientists plan to drill 1500 meters below the Chicxulub crater. It will be like delving 10 million to 15 million years into the past.
The scientists plan to take the first offshore core from the center of the crater. The crater has been named after a nearby seaside village on the Yucatan peninsula.
The Chicxulub crater was created some 65.5 million years ago and it ended the reign of dinosaurs and also left a gaping aberration on the crust. The expansive crater which was made 65.5 million years ago could hold the answer to the riddle and mysteries surrounding the space rock event.
Scientists will drill 1500 meters below the surface of the epoch making crater and bring up the giant core- which will be like a time capsule pertaining to the events some 10 to 15 million years ago.
The Chicxulub crater is about 125 mile wide and a group of international scientists met last week in Merida , Mexico which is located inside the crater, to chalk out the strategy to start the drilling project in spring 2016.
Why should we drill now? The crater is a rare opportunity for scientists sampling the crater’s peak ring — a ring of mountain like structures around the center of the crater. It will give a clearer picture of the ancient biological and geological processes.
Geologists opine that whenever a big rock smashes into the crust of the Earth at high velocities, the crust behaves just like a liquid first creating a transient crater and the center rebounds upwards and then outwards.
Sean Gulick, of The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics, who lead the team, said “We think the peak ring is the record of the material that rebounded and splashed outward. We’ve never gotten a rock back from a peak ring to know if that’s correct.” Gulick said.
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