Chicxulub Crater Stayed Hot for 8 Million Years After Dinosaur-Killing Impact

Rock cores drilled from the Chicxulub crater show the impact site stayed hot enough to sustain a hydrothermal system for at least 8 million years after the asteroid struck 66 million years ago. Annemarie Pickersgill at the University of Glasgow and colleagues obtained the cores by drilling 1 kilometre into the crater.

Argon dating of the samples produced ages ranging from 66 million years ago to about 58 million years ago.

Previous estimates had placed the cooling time at only 2 million years. The new data indicate the site took at least four times longer to cool. The asteroid is estimated to have been as large as 15 kilometres in diameter.

The impact caused the extinction of three-quarters of species on Earth, including all dinosaurs except the ancestors of birds, and triggered a nuclear winter that lasted at least 15 years. The collision deformed rock at least 35 kilometres beneath the surface and melted about 10,000 cubic kilometres of material.

Melted rock mixed with seawater created porous rock filled with pockets of hot water that extended several kilometres deep.

Sulphur isotopes preserved in the cores indicate microbial life existed within the hydrothermal system and recovered rapidly after the impact. ” Chris Kirkland at Curtin University said large impacts “can also create long-lived underground systems where hot fluids circulate through shattered rock,” offering sheltered habitats for microbes. 1038/s43247-026-03618-5.