The tsunami created by the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs appeared in a simulation – it turns out

66 million years ago, an asteroid at least 10 km wide hit the Earth, which, according to the currently most accepted theory, as a result of its direct and indirect impacts, was mainly responsible for the extinction of our living world. The planet at that time, dinosaurs, nearly three-quarters of animal and plant species (scientific name Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event). The shock waves generated by the collision caused global earthquakes and led to volcanic eruptions, and the fallen dust and smoke again covered the surface for a long time. During the collision, a huge amount of dust, ash and steam, as well as gases from rocks were released into the atmosphere. Due to the huge amount of dust entering the atmosphere, the amount of sunlight reaching the surface has decreased dramatically, which leads to climate change and cooling.

The impact generated huge waves, the size of which dwarfs all tsunamis recorded in human history. Giant waves, when they reach the shore, can reach a height of 1.6 to 4.5 kilometers. An international research group comprising two NOAA research laboratories (Pacific Marine Environment Laboratory and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) has studied the global impacts of an asteroid-induced tsunami with the help of numerical modeling and geological records that verify model results. As a result of the work, an animation was made related to the height and spread of waves, which can be viewed at the link below.

A screenshot of the simulation. The black spots indicate the location of the land masses at the time of the collision, about 66 million years ago. The short film can be watched: NOAA Science On a Sphere