Multiple reports say researchers have identified the space rock that struck Earth about 66 million years ago and formed the Chicxulub crater as a rare carbonaceous chondrite meteorite. One account describes it as a CO chondrite with unusual chemistry, suggesting the impactor’s composition points to material delivered from a distant region of the solar system. Another report refers to the meteorite as an Ornans-class carbonaceous chondrite. Both descriptions emphasize that the meteorite’s chemical signature, including isotope analyses, helps link its origin and composition to the Chicxulub event and revises earlier ideas about the role of sulfur in the mass extinction.
The sources also converge on the idea that, after the impact, fine debris and dust spread through the atmosphere, contributing to global cooling by blocking sunlight. This environmental disruption is presented as a major factor in the widespread loss of dinosaurs and other life at the end of the Cretaceous. One outlet further suggests the impactor likely formed in the outer asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, though details of formation and delivery are described as interpretations based on the meteorite’s properties.
