How do scientists know that a meteorite killed the dinosaurs?
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Right around the extinction event 65 MYA, there’s a very thin layer of dust in the rock layers containing elements like iridium that are consistent with meteorite impacts. Since this layer is found almost everywhere on Earth, this meteorite impact must have been a big one.
We also located the crater of this impact in the Yucatan Peninsula dating back to the same age. It’s big and old, big enough and old enough to meet the criteria for the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.
New research indicates, however, that the meteorite may not have been the cause of the mass extinction, but rather just happened to occur around the same time. The other mass extinction events have been tied to a supervolcano eruption, and there is also evidence for this happening about 65 MYA, and it fits the pattern of the other extinction events.
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