The Chicxulub Asteroid

by | Jul 1, 2019 | About Merida | 0 comments

The YASC-building was constructed on top of a key area in our planet’s history.

The YASC Family values culture, knowledge and science, and that is why we enjoy learning and sharing these kinds of amazing facts about our beloved Mérida.

 

DID YOU KNOW…?

The asteroid that caused the end of the Mesozoic era and exterminated the dinosaurs*, impacted right at to the northwest of the Yucatan Peninsula.

* According to the most accepted hypothesis.

 

THE NAME

Chicxulub is the name of both: the crater itself, and the town where it is located. The name comes from the Mayan language:

Chic = flea + Xulub = Devil. Devil’s flea.

 

THE NUMBERS

  • The collision happened 65 million years ago.
  • The asteroid was 10km in diameter.
  • The crash point is located 30km from the outskirts of Mérida.
  • The resulting crater has an approximate width of 180km.
  • The collision had the strength of 5 million atomic bombs!
  • The impact created 150mts waves! – ¡TSUNAMI!
  • The extinction reached three quarters of Earth’s life forms.
  • The crater was discovered in 1970 by 2 geophysicists that were looking for an oilfield: Antonio Camargo and Glen Penfield.

We actually live over the crater!

 

THE RESULT

  • These were found inside the crater area: shocked quartz, tektites and iridium, all indicators of an impact.
  • The calcium carbonate rocks were fractured and a hydrological system emerged, integrated by a network of complex caverns – that acts like underground rivers – and external natural wells called “cenotes”.

A cenotes ring was formed after the impact!

 

THE PARK

The Chicxulub crater is a natural laboratory for investigation about the formation and evolution of planetary surfaces. In 2008 the construction of the “Parque Científico Tecnológico de Yucatán” began. A complex of areas, dedicated to the studying, development and spreading scientific knowledge. Until now it has the following areas:

  • Library
  • Academic Unit
  • Laboratory
  • Research center
  • Science Museum
  • Ornamental botanical garden
  • Wildlife Unit
  • Butterfly garden (“mariposario”)
  • Bioterium

 

THE MUSEUM

You can learn about this event that modified the planet’s life at the “Museo de Ciencias del Crater de Chicxulub”. This is a space dedicated to explaining the relationship that geological, planetary and biological processes have on the evolution of life and the planet.

EXHIBITIONS AND ROOMS
  • The universe
  • Impact craters
  • The origin and evolution of life
  • The extinction of the dinosaurs
  • Biodiversity
  • Rivers, lakes and oceans
  • The biodiversity of Yucatán
  • The Yucatan aquifer mantle
  • Mayan Culture

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