The Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project (CSDP)

摘要

The Chicxulub crater is a unique impact structure associated with one of the most dramatic geological events in the Phanerozoic. It is buried beneath carbonate sediments in the northern Yucatan Peninsula, southeastern Mexico. It has a diameter of 180-200 km and a complex multi-ring structure (Fig. 1). It represents the youngest and the best preserved of only three large multi-ring impact basins documented in terrestrial geological record. The impact that excavated the Chicxulub crater has been dated at 65 Ma and, therefore, is related to the event that marks the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary and the extinction of about 75% of species (50% of genera, including the dinosaurs) (Alvarez et al. 1980; Hildebrand et al. 1991). This crater presents a unique opportunity to discover new important information on the formation and characteristics of such large multi-ring impact craters, their environmental and climatic effects, and their implications for geological and biological evolution.