The site of impact of an enormous comet, found in North America, has enabled scientists to model its catastrophic collision with the Earth, an event alleged to have wiped out the dinosaurs. What happened when the resulting fireball caused billions of tons of sulphuric acid to be released into the atmosphere - and could it ever happen again? Horizon reaches back in time and reconstructs how, in a brief moment, the fate of millions of species was sealed: from the new-found fossil 'horizon of death', to scientists modelling the blast itself; a million times stronger than the world's combined nuclear arsenals. Startling graphics reveal how in 30 seconds North America was scoured by a fireball. Within an hour the world was aflame. And new evidence shows that the asteroid chanced on the worst possible site on Earth to strike. It hit unique sulphate-rich rocks, vaporised them, and kicked billions of tons of sulphuric acid into the atmosphere.
BBC Documentary - Crater of Death
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