1. What caused the Wetumpka impact, when did it happen, where was the impact in
ID: 296163 • Letter: 1
Question
1. What caused the Wetumpka impact, when did it happen, where was the impact in relation to the shoreline? How much energy was released in the impact event? Where did that energy go?
2. What were the specific effects of the impact that could have affected living things and ecosystems in the area of the impact?
3. What were the specific physical effects of the impact at sea (in the shallow shelf water offshore?)
4. What living things are depicted in each of the artworks and what biotic effects would the impact have had on each?
5. What do you think the long-term effects of impact were in central Alabama? Could you determine that anything like this happened there if you could have visited the area 100 - or 1000 years - after impact?
Explanation / Answer
1. The impact was caused by a cosmic object (an asteroid or comet estimated to have been about 1,250 feet, or 380 meters, in diameter). It happens about 83 millions year ago. The energy released by the impact was roughly 175,000 times greater than the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima in 1945. The energy produced a huge earthquake, a tsunami, an atmospheric blast wave (hurricane-force, straight-line winds), and a cascade of falling rocks that would have blasted out of the developing crater bowl.
2. Along with Gulf Coast of Elmore County, many thousands of living things, including dinosaurs, other reptiles, and aquatic life, ended with this incident. However, Wetumpka did not have global consequences of the impact, and in geological records, there is no link to any global extinction of animals or plants.
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