Images Dated 26th September 2002

Material from Chicxulub meteorite impact crater

Chicxulub impact material. Core sample of material taken from the Chicxulub meteorite impact crater. This impact occurred about 65 million years ago & may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Dark areas are a mixture of drilling mud and loose material from the site. Light areas are fragments of rock, largely anhydrites and evaporites, which were struck by the meteorite. The metal cube with the sample is about 1 centimere square. The 200- kilometre wide Chicxulub crater is found in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Material ejected from it covered a much wider area, forming a layer between older Cretaceous (K) and younger Tertiary (T) rocks

© DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY