Earth Impact (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

Earth Impact

Caption

This image shows an artist’s depiction of a 10-kilometer (six-mile) diameter asteroid striking the Earth. Approximately 70 of these dinosaur killer-sized or larger impacts hit the Earth over a span that lasted between 3.8 and 1.8 billion years ago. They are capable of producing a global millimeter- to centimeter-thick rock layer that contains impact debris: sand-sized droplets, or spherules, of molten rock that rained down from the huge molten plumes made by the mega-impact.

Credit

Art by Don Davis

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