Dinosaur-Killing Meteorite May Have Sustained Underground Life for Millions of Years

The Chicxulub meteorite impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs also created an underground hydrothermal system that may have supported life for at least eight million years after the event, Munis Raza reported for Interesting Engineering.

Sixty-six million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula, forming the Chicxulub crater and triggering a mass extinction that wiped out around three-quarters of Earth’s species, including all non-avian dinosaurs.

The study not only reframes understanding of Earth’s most infamous mass extinction event but also offers fresh insights into the possible origins of life on Earth and potentially elsewhere in the universe.

Sixty-six million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula, forming the Chicxulub crater and triggering a mass extinction that wiped out around three-quarters of Earth’s species, including all non-avian dinosaurs.

The impact created a crater nearly 200 kilometers wide and dramatically altered Earth’s surface and subsurface environments.

Beneath the devastation, the collision’s immense heat fractured rocks, mixed with seawater, and triggered the formation of a vast hydrothermal system — an underground network of hot water and porous rocks.

Researchers said these conditions may have been ideal for sustaining microbial life, creating microenvironments that shielded organisms from extreme surface conditions.

In 2016, scientists from the International Ocean Discovery Program and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program launched Expedition 364 to drill into the crater’s peak ring.

Researchers collected samples of potassium-rich feldspar, a mineral believed to have formed from circulating hot fluids after the impact.

Dr. Annemarie Pickersgill of the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre used argon-argon dating techniques to analyze the feldspar. The findings suggested the hydrothermal system persisted for at least eight million years — about four times longer than previous estimates.

Updated computer models supported the conclusion, indicating that high rock permeability, sustained heat from the impact, and natural geothermal conditions helped the underground system endure far longer than previously believed.