Word Rich, The Chicxulub Impactor
Click Here to View The featured, 3-minute video presents Earth’s most recent Mass Extinction event while explaining: The meteor that struck Earth was 10 Km wide Its impact equaled hundreds of millions of atomic bombs and Life can bounce back, even after the most devastating blows Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. ~ Seneca the Younger Succeed and Soar’s first, the 2022 “Words” series explored phrases that could help appreciate and heal human experiences. The 2025 theme is astronomy. OurWorldinData.org reports that 10% of Earth’s species vanish every few million years. Every ten million years, 30% of this plant’s life forms disappear forever. Every one hundred million years 65% of Earth’s species die off. Larger losses are called “Mass Extinctions.” During those events, 75% or more of life on Earth ends. The most recent is called, “Chicxulub.” That cataclysm ended dinosaur’s reign sixty-six million years ago. The close of the huge reptile era coincided with survivors becoming birds while allowing mammals to flourish. The earliest were small shrews, Morganucodon. Several hundred million years later, human beings happened. Chicxulub involved a city-sized meteor striking Earth. NewScientist.com reports, “rocks from deep within Earth’s crust were raised 25 kilometres high and a rim of mountains taller than the Himalayas formed around the crater’s edge.” It’s in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsuyla. Further, “The asteroid hit at 20 kilometres per second from an angle of 60 degrees above horizontal – just right for sending the maximum amount of vaporised rock into the atmosphere. Plumes of sulphur-based gases and fine dust blocked out the sun, causing an “impact winter” that lasted for fifteen years.” Very little survived. Especially plants and animals that could feed the huge dinosaurs. By the way, Daily, 230 asteroids burn up when entering Earth’s atmosphere 800,000 asteroids travel our solar system Two hundred million years ago, underwater volcanoes caused the global warming and altered ocean chemistry killing 80% of Earth’s life. Two hundred fifty million years ago, 96% of Earth’s life perished when Siberian volcanoes caused global warming, ocean acidification and acid rain. The second of five Mass Extinctions happened when rapid plant growth caused severe global cooling. The first, known major die-off happened when “Intense glacial and interglacial periods created large sea-level swings and moved shorelines … the Appalachian mountains created lots of weathering, sequestration of CO2, and with it, changes in climate and ocean chemistry.” See “Snowball Earth.” Keep in mind, New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. ~ Laozi With the possible exception of the equator, everything begins somewhere. ~ C. S. Lewis Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Sandra’s Fine Art America Journals Record your dreams, hopes, plans and achievements in these beautiful, inspiring notebooks. Details: 6” x 8, spiral notebook 120 pages, ruled on both sides Art printed on front Cover is thick paper stock. Back cover is medium gray Inside front and back covers have pockets for storing extra paper and pens View All Notebooks Thanks for shopping!