1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254012103321

Autore

Shonting David

Titolo

Chicxulub: The Impact and Tsunami : The Story of the Largest Known Asteroid to Hit the Earth / / by David Shonting, Cathy Ezrailson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2017

ISBN

3-319-39487-8

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (146 p.)

Collana

Popular Science, , 2626-6113

Disciplina

500

Soggetti

Earth

Geology

Historical geology

Astronomy

Planetology

Natural disasters

Astrophysics

Popular Earth Science

Historical Geology

Popular Science in Astronomy

Natural Hazards

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Preface -- Prologue: the arrival -- Chapter 1: The orbiting objects -- Chapter 2: The tale of chicxulub -- Chapter 3: A scenario for the chicxulub impact and energies -- Chapter 4: The chicxulub tsunami -- Chapter 5: Long term global effects -- Epilogue: Possible chicxulub effects on the path of human evolution.

Sommario/riassunto

This book tells the story of the catastrophic impact of the giant 10 Km asteroid Chicxulub into the ancient Gulf of Mexico 65.5 million years ago. The book begins with a discussion of the nature of asteroids and the likelihood of future Earth-impacts. The story then turns to the discovery of a global sediment layer attributed to the fallout from the



impact and a piecing together of the evidence that revealed a monster crater, buried under the Gulf. Reviewed is the myriad of geological and fossil evidence that suggested the disastrous sequence of events occurring when a "nuclear-like" explosion ripped through the sea, Earth, and atmosphere, thus forming the mega-crater and tsunami. The aftermath of the Chicxulub's event initiated decades and more of major global climate changes including a "Nuclear Winter" of freezing darkness and blistering greenhouse warming. A chapter is dedicated to the science of tsunamis and their model generation, including a portrayal of the globally rampaging Chicxulub waves. The asteroid's global devastation killed off some 70% of animal and plant life including the dinosaurs. The study of an ancient Cambrian fossil bed suggests how "roll of the dice" events can affect the future evolution of life on Earth. We see how Chicxulub's apparent destruction of the dinosaurs, followed by the their replacement with small mammals, altered forever the progress of human evolution. This book presents a fascinating glimpse through the lens of the natural sciences - the geology, climatology, and oceanography, of the effects of an enormous astronomical event.