Dinosaur Age on Earth Ended during Springtime, New Study

Dinosaur Age on Earth Ended during Springtime, New Study
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Dinosaur Age on Earth Ended during Springtime, New Study

Dinosaur Age on Earth Ended during Springtime, New Study

About 66 million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into Earth, leading to one of the biggest extinction events on the planet, and ending the age of dinosaurs during springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, Agence France Press (AFP) reported.

Melanie During, lead author of a recent study, said pinning down the season of the impact may help us understand “how the remaining species survived and how they prospered later.”

However, determining the precise date of the impact, which occurred in Chicxulub, currently Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, is scientifically impossible.

According to a recent study, the asteroid’s impact, or a part of it, caused a series of disasters that were followed by climate turbulences.

These incidents ended the Cretaceous age and killed all the non-avian dinosaurs, and then the pterosaurs. The research team led by paleontologist Melanie During and vertebrate paleontologist Dennis Voeten, both from the Uppsala University in Sweden, sought to shed light on the impact and its consequence by examining fish fossils.

The Tanis site in North Dakota preserved traces of this massive extinction. According to the study, it features a collection of fossils found under the sediment of a flooding riverbed. The researchers suggest that during this phenomenon (the impact), the seiche waves crossed over 3,000 kilometers in around 10 minutes, raised the water of an inland sea in the region that has become America, and uprooted almost all types of living species.

In Tanis, the team studied fossils of three paddlefish and three sturgeons used high-resolution synchrotron X-ray scans at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France.

According to the researchers, the fish died from seiche waves accompanied by a flow of glass-like balls known as spherules that were created under the impact’s heat and rained over large distances on Earth.

The fish died within 15 to 30 minutes after the impact, said Melanie During.



David Beckham and Gary Oldman Awarded Knighthoods

FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
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David Beckham and Gary Oldman Awarded Knighthoods

FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo

Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles' annual birthday honors list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honor.

Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.

His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.

Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama "Darkest Hour".

He also had roles in the "Dark Knight Trilogy" and the "Harry Potter" movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama "Dark Horses".

Other famous names receiving honors included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.

More than 1,200 people received honors for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.