Asteroid Impact (IMAGE)

University of California - San Diego

Asteroid Impact

Caption

An asteroid impact 65.5 million years ago left a clear band between light colored Cretaceous sediment (left) and dark-colored, Paleocene sediment (right) recovered from the seafloor off South America. The abrupt shift in sediment color that reflects the instantaneous drop in ocean biological productivity, fossil numbers, and species.

Credit

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

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