The Crater That Ended the Dinosaurs
Buried beneath the Yucatán Peninsula is a crater 180 km wide, left by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
What was reported
In 1978, geophysicists working for Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, noticed a huge buried ring structure under the Yucatán Peninsula while searching for oil. Separately, in 1980, scientists had proposed that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, based on a layer of rare metals found around the world.
In the early 1990s, researchers linked the two: the buried structure, centred near the town of Chicxulub, was a crater about 180 km across, the right age.
Explanations offered
Scientists now agree that an asteroid about 10 km wide struck here about 66 million years ago, causing fires, tsunamis and years of darkness that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species. A ring of cenotes, water-filled sinkholes, traces the crater's buried edge.
- When
- About 66 million years ago; found in 1978
- Where
- Chicxulub, Yucatán, Mexico
- Witnesses
- Oil geologists, then scientists
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.