A new study has suggested that the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs was more more impactful on the earth than we first thought.
The extinction of the dinosaurs is one of the most famous (or infamous, depending on the way you look at it) events in the earth's history.
It is believed that a giant asteroid colliding with the earth is the reason why the dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago. This event changed the course of the earth's history. If an asteroid didn't collide with the earth millions of years ago, what would have happened to the dinosaurs? How much longer would the dinosaurs have existed if it wasn't for that ill-fated event?
Perhaps we'll never know what would have happened.
But, it's likely the course of the earth's history and present day, could have been vastly different if that asteroid hadn't collided with the earth millions of years ago. Which is what new research has suggested.
New research has suggested that the asteroid that collided with the earth millions of years ago, that wiped out the dinosaurs, also was responsible for creating the Amazon rainforest. Which means, if true, the Amazon rainforest and the life that exists in it today may not have existed if it wasn't for that asteroid.
The Research
The research has been published in Science Mag Journal.
It is called 'The impactful origin of neotropical rainforests'. The researchers researched fossils before and after the asteroid collision, they found that before the collision, ferns and conifers were common in south America, but the asteroid collision changed the landscape and ecosystem. They found that it took millions of years for that area of the world to recover and change into the tropical rainforests we know today in what is modern day south America.
The researchers believe that the area moved from being one with conifer tropical forests when the dinosaurs existed there before the asteroid collision, to the tropical rainforests that we know after the asteroid collision.
If you want to read more about it, you can find it - here.
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