16-meter-tall ancient ripple trail from dinosaur-killing asteroid found

Liputan6.com, Louisiana – Megaripple An ancient (giant ripple) as tall as a five-story building is hiding underground Louisiana, United States of America (USA), and the unique geological location indicates that it was formed after a killer asteroid strike dinosaur nonavian.

Quoted from Live Science, Wednesday (07/21/2021), the new study shows a 16-meter megaripple that sits about 1,500 meters below the Lake Latt area, in north central Louisiana, and dates back to the late Cretaceous period 66 million years ago when part of the state be under water.

The size and orientation of the megaripples suggest that they formed after a rock from space — known as the asteroid Chicxulub — hit the Yucatán Peninsula, causing a tsunami there, and the waves then flowed into shallower water and created megaripple marks on the ocean floor.

The occurrence of “a ripple of that size means something very large has to disturb the water column,” said study lead researcher Gary Kinsland, a professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Louisana, Lafayette. “This is just further evidence that the Chicxulub impact ended the Cretaceous period.”

The project began when energy company Devon Energy conducted a 3D seismic survey of the lake.

A seismic survey requires creating loud sound waves and placing surface detectors around the area that can capture the returning sound waves, which are reflected as they hit various layers of underground rock.

The data from these sound waves allows researchers to make geological map underground.

Study co-researcher Kaare Egedahl, then a master’s student in petroleum geology at the same university, took Devon Energy data and created seismic images of the underground area.

“Kaare brought it to me, and he said, ‘What is this?’ because it’s very different from anything you’d expect to see in sediments laid on the seashore or rivers, “Kinsland explained. “I saw it, and I said ‘OMG.'”

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