9 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
I keep hearing about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, it hit and shot up so much materiel that reentered the earths atmosphere that it caused the surface temperature of the earth to heat to over 500 degrees fahrenheit causing massive global fires, then I hear that the dust blocked the sun and cooled the earth causing temperatures to drop. How long would the earth have maintained the high temperatures that would have killed most everything? Was it hours, days, weeks? Then how long was the dust winter? How long after the asteroid hit did the earth return to normal livable temperatures?
Comment by atomfullerene at 06/12/2023 at 19:01 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The high temperature pulse is thought to have lasted somewhere from several tens of minutes to several hours (estimates change as better simulations are done). The dust-driven cooling is usually put at a period of several years.
And at the same time the Deccan traps were erupting and seem to have been causing significant global warming over longer timescales.
Comment by _mizzar at 07/12/2023 at 10:16 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies