"Dinosaur Extinction: Asteroid Dust's Devastating Impact on Earth's Atmosphere Revealed"
Researchers have revealed that the dust fallout from the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago played a potent role in driving extinctions. The dust, which blocked photosynthesis for up to two years and remained in the atmosphere for 15 years, was calculated to weigh about 2,000 gigatonnes, exceeding 11 times the weight of Mt. Everest. This study indicates that dust played a larger role than previously known, surpassing the impact of sulfur and soot. The dust, formed from pulverized rock, caused an "impact winter" with plummeting temperatures and collapsing primary productivity, leading to a chain reaction of extinctions. The recovery from the impact winter took about 20 years, and without the asteroid impact, dinosaurs might still dominate the Earth today.