Dust drove dinosaurs’ extinction after asteroid impact, scientists say

An artist's impression of North Dakota in the first months after the asteroid’s impact depicts a dark, dusty and cold world in which the last non-avian dinosaurs, illustrated by the species Dakotaraptor steini, were on the edge of extinction. Photograph: Dr Mark A Garlick/Reuters

In the end it was the dust that did it for the dinosaurs. At least that is the finding of computer simulations of the aftermath of the asteroid impact that reshaped life on Earth 66m years ago.

The cataclysmic impact in what is now Chicxulub on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula wiped out 75% of species on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs. But the precise nature of the deadly blow has kept scientists busy for decades, with soot-spewing wildfires, volcanic eruptions and vast quantities of sulphur all considered culprits.