Title: Killer crater is much larger.   
Subject(s): METEORITE craters -- Mexico -- Yucatan Peninsula
Source: Astronomy, Feb94, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p16, 1/4p, 1c
Abstract: Asserts that new gravity studies indicate that the Chicxulub
crater, buried deep in the sedimentary rocks of Mexico's Yucatan
peninsula, comes nearer to 300km in diameter than the 180km previously
thought. Comments from Virgil Sharpton of the Lunar and Planetary
Institute in Houston; Additional information.
AN: 9401037819
ISSN: 0091-6358
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Database: MasterFILE Elite

Section: ASTRONEWS

KILLER CRATER IS MUCH LARGER

New gravity studies indicate that the Chicxulub crater, buried deep
under the sedimentary rocks of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, comes
nearer to 300 km in diameter than the 180 km previously thought, says
Virgil Sharpton of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
Sharpton headed an international team investigating the
65-million-year-old crater, which is widely believed to be the site of
a "dinosaur-killing" impact at the end of the Cretaceous period.

If Chicxulub really is a 300-km impact basin, Sharpton notes, then it
is one of the largest craters in the inner solar system. This would
indicate that the Chicxulum impact was more extraordinary than
scientists have previously thought. It also means the impact may have
been big enough by itself to wipe out dinosaurs and other life forms,
a point which some scientists have disputed on the grounds the crater
originally seemed too small to produce the extinction.

PHOTO: DINOSAURS' DEADLY BULL'S EYE. Circular rings mark variations in
gravity over the Chicxulub crater in this artificial-relief view. A
new study indicates that the crater, formed 65 million years ago, is
about 70 percent larger than scientists had thought. (V. SHARPTON/LPI)
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Source: Astronomy, Feb94, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p16, 1/4p, 1c.
Item Number: 9401037819