Chicxulubkrater

Chicxulubkrater is a large impact crater buried beneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It has an estimated diameter of about 150 kilometers (93 miles) and formed around 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary event. The crater is largely hidden by sediment and carbonate rocks, with its presence inferred from offshore seismic data and gravity anomalies. The impact is associated with the mass extinction event that ended the era of the dinosaurs.

The feature was identified in the mid-20th century from geophysical surveys conducted by Mexican and international researchers, notably Glen Penfield and Antonio Camargo, and is named for Chicxulub, a village in Yucatán. Subsequent marine seismic studies and deep drilling confirmed its impact origin.

Chicxulub is a complex, multi-ring crater featuring a central uplift and concentric rims. The rocks exposed in the subsurface include carbonate platform rocks disrupted by the impact, with impact breccias, melt rocks, and shocked minerals recovered from cores. The site preserves evidence of megatsunamis and global climatic effects following the impact.

Drilling programs, including the Ocean Drilling Program and later ICDP and IODP expeditions (notably Expedition 364 in 2016), recovered material that corroborates a Chicxulub origin and provides insights into the crater’s structure and the immediate post-impact environment.

Significance: The Chicxulub impact is widely linked to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, the boundary that marks the demise of non-avian dinosaurs and many other species. The crater remains a key reference in planetary geology and impact-cratering studies.