Huge Global Tsunami Followed Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Impact

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Thhttps://eos.org/articles/huge-global-tsunami-followed-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-impacte cataclysmic Chicxulub impact roughly 66 million years ago spawned a tsunami that produced wave heights of several meters in distant waters, new simulations suggest.

Artist’s impression of an asteroid impacting shallow waters near the modern-day Yucatán Peninsula.
Artist’s impression of an asteroid in the distance impacting shallow waters near the modern-day Yucatán Peninsula. Credit: Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo

By Katherine Kornei 

The devastating tsunamis that struck the coastlines of Chile, Haiti, Indonesia, and Japan in recent decades produced waves tens of meters high, unimaginable to most people accustomed to gentle seas. But millions of years ago, a truly inconceivable set of waves—the tallest roughly 1,500 meters high—rammed through the Gulf of Mexico and spread throughout the ancient ocean, producing wave heights of several meters in distant waters, new simulations show.

The enormous waves were triggered by a large asteroid slamming into the shallow waters of the modern-day Yucatán Peninsula. That asteroid impact, which occurred about 66 million years ago and…

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