Evidence Is Found of a Worldwide Catastrophe at the End of the Cretaceous Period
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Science and Technology Series
- Categories: Science, Disasters
- Subcategories: Scientists, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geologists
- Curriculum: American History 1951-present, Italian History, 20th & 21st Century European History, Latino History
- Geographical Location: Italy
- Date: 1980
Article abstract: Luis and Walter Alvarez discovered evidence that the earth was hit by a large asteroid 65 million years ago.
Summary of Event
The geologic history of the earth is punctuated by a number of mass extinctions in which large numbers of different species disappeared at nearly the same time. These mass extinctions have been recognized for more than one hundred years and are used to mark the major time boundaries of the last 600 million years of geologic history. The most interesting and intensively studied mass extinction was the one that...
[The entire page is 2212 words long]
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