Geologist Alan Hildebrand and colleagues published in 1991 that a buried structure about 180 km wide, centred on the town of Chicxulub on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, was the crater of the impact that ended the Cretaceous. It had been discovered by Pemex geophysicists in 1978 while prospecting for oil, but their data were not public. Drilling in 2016 recovered rocks from the peak ring that confirmed the impact origin and gave a detailed picture of how the crater formed, strengthening the case for the asteroid theory of the dinosaurs' extinction.
Before and after
- 1991Rise of Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
- 1991Founding of Central European University
- 1991Rise of electronica
- 1991Establishment of Rwenzori Mountains National Park
- 1991The Chicxulub crater is identified
- 26 January 1991Somali Civil War
- 11 February 1991Founding of Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
- 15 February 1991Founding of Visegrád Group
- 20 February 1991Creation of Python
More in Science & technology
- 1964Discovery of rutherfordium
- 18 February 1970Discovery of dubnium
- July 1974Discovery of seaborgium
- 1976Discovery of bohrium
- 29 August 1982Discovery of meitnerium
- 1984Discovery of hassium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.