Since 1980, paleontologists have suggested that a terrible meteorite impact millions of years ago radically altered the Earth’s climate and killed off the dinosaur population. Now a study led by David Jolley of Aberdeen University proposes that there was a second major impact a few thousand years after the first:
In the current study, scientists examined the “pollen and spores” of fossil plants in the layers of mud that infilled the crater. They found that immediately after the impact, ferns quickly colonized the devastated landscape.
Ferns have an amazing ability to bounce back after catastrophe. Layers full of fern spores – dubbed “fern spikes” – are considered to be a good “markers” of past impact events.
However, there was an unexpected discovery in store for the scientists.
They located a second “fern spike” in a layer one meter above the first, suggesting another later impact event.
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